Nonstop flight route between Big Spring, Texas, United States and Tegel / Berlin, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS), Big Spring, Texas, United States and Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), Tegel / Berlin, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,391 miles (or 8,676 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield and Berlin Tegel Airport, 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield and Berlin Tegel Airport. 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 Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS):

• In 1956, the Air Defense Command 331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron was transferred to Webb from Stewart Air Force Base in New York to defend the southern United States border on air intercept missions as part of the Central Air Defense Force.
• The furthest airport from Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,166 miles (17,969 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• By the mid-1970s, the end of the Vietnam War, the associated financial costs of that conflict and related cuts in USAF force structure and future defense budgets meant a marked decrease in the need for Air Force pilots.
• At that time, nearly 6,000 students had graduated and the field's training aircraft had flown approximately 400,000 hours and more than 60 million miles.
• The closest airport to Webb Air Force Base Big Spring Army Airfield (BGS) is Midland Airpark (MDD), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) WSW of BGS.
• 331st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron
• The airfield was activated as Big Spring Air Force Base on 1 October 1951 by the United States Air Force Air Training Command and established the 3560th Pilot Training Wing.

Facts about Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL):

• In addition to being known as "Berlin Tegel Airport", another name for TXL is "Flughafen Berlin-Tegel".
• The furthest airport from Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,685 miles (18,805 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Berlin Tegel Airport handled 19,591,849 passengers last year.
• From late 1979, Pan Am began updating its Berlin fleet.
• The closest airport to Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) is Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) SE of TXL.
• Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL) has 2 runways.
• Following the end of the Berlin Airlift in May 1949, Tegel became the Berlin base of the Armée de l'Air, eventually leading to the establishment of base 165 at Berlin Tegel on 1 August 1964.
• Because of Berlin Tegel Airport's relatively low elevation of 122 feet, planes can take off or land at Berlin Tegel Airport 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 move from Tempelhof to Tegel resulted in all of Pan Am's Berlin operations being concentrated at the latter.
• Following the move to Tegel, Air France initially used Lockheed Super Constellation piston equipment on all Berlin flights.