Nonstop flight route between Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Mountain View, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Benson (BEX), Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ), Mountain View, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,330 miles (or 8,577 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between RAF Benson and Moffett Federal Airfield, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between RAF Benson and Moffett Federal Airfield. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF Benson (BEX):

• The Chiltern Air Support Unit helicopter and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance helicopter are also both located here as lodger units.
• The airfield is a well-known frost hollow, often recording the coldest temperatures in the UK.
• The closest airport to RAF Benson (BEX) is RAF High Wycombe (HYC), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) ENE of BEX.
• The Battles were replaced in December 1940 with Vickers Wellington medium bombers.
• The furthest airport from RAF Benson (BEX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,879 miles (19,118 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The station retained a reconnaissance role for some years after the war, with Avro Lancaster, Spitfire, Mosquito, Gloster Meteor PR.Mk 10 and English Electric Canberra PR.Mk 3 aircraft.
• The King's Flight moved from RAF Hendon and would stay until after the war, moving to RAF Northolt in 1995.

Facts about Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ):

• Because of Moffett Federal Airfield's relatively low elevation of 32 feet, planes can take off or land at Moffett Federal Airfield at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• The furthest airport from Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,365 miles (18,290 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) has 2 runways.
• The US Navy is evaluating options for remediating the PCBs, lead and asbestos, and NASA is evaluating options for reuse of the hangar.
• Hangars #2 and #3 are some of the world's largest freestanding wood structures.
• The closest airport to Moffett Federal Airfield (NUQ) is Palo Alto Airport of Santa Clara County (PAO), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) NW of NUQ.
• In September 2008, NASA indicated that it was still urging the Navy to restore the hangar, but that it is willing to help save the structure.
• Moffett Federal Airfield has occasional air traffic, with an average of 5-10 flights landing per day.
• Narrow gauge tracks run through the length of the hangar.
• On 1 July 1994, NAS Moffett Field was closed as a naval air station and turned over to the NASA Ames Research Center.
• In 1960, the nearby Air Force Satellite Test Center, was created adjacent to NAS Moffett Field.