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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Benson (BEX), Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army Airfield (PTV), Porterville, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,318 miles (or 8,558 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 Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army 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 Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army 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 station is today the home to four squadrons of Support Helicopters, 28 Squadron, 78 Squadron with Merlin helicopters and 33 Squadron and 230 Squadron with Puma helicopters.
• 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 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 closest airport to RAF Benson (BEX) is RAF High Wycombe (HYC), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) ENE of BEX.
• The Chiltern Air Support Unit helicopter and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance helicopter are also both located here as lodger units.

Facts about Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army Airfield (PTV):

• The closest airport to Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army Airfield (PTV) is Mefford Field (TLR), which is located only 17 miles (28 kilometers) WNW of PTV.
• The airport was opened in September 1942 as Porterville Army Airfield and was used by the United States Army Air Forces Fourth Air Force as a training base during World War II.
• At the end of the war the airfield was determined to be excess by the military and turned over to the local government for civil use.
• The furthest airport from Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army Airfield (PTV) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,368 miles (18,294 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army Airfield (PTV) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army Airfield's relatively low elevation of 442 feet, planes can take off or land at Porterville Municipal AirportPorterville Army 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.