Nonstop flight route between Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and San Bernardino, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,347 miles (or 8,605 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 Brize Norton and Norton Air Force Base, 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 Brize Norton and Norton Air Force Base. 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 Brize Norton (BZZ):

• Royal Air Force Brize Norton or RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, about 65 mi west north-west of London, is the largest station of the Royal Air Force.
• RAF Brize Norton was opened in 1937 as a training station and one of the first squadrons to use the airfield was No.
• The Hercules fleet at RAF Lyneham officially moved to Brize Norton on 1 July 2011.
• The furthest airport from RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,888 miles (19,132 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• By 1950 the USAF Strategic Air Command was based at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Marham, and RAF Sculthorpe.
• With the closure of RAF Lyneham taking place in late 2011, the repatriation of British personnel was relocated to Brize Norton on 8 September 2011.
• The closest airport to RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WSW of BZZ.
• AirTanker Services is operating the RAF's Airbus A330 MRTT to provide aerial re-fuelling services at Brize Norton.

Facts about Norton Air Force Base (SBD):

• The SAGE Direction Center closed in 1966 along with the other ADC facilities at Norton.
• The closest airport to Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is San Bernardino International Airport (SBT), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) S of SBD.
• The furthest airport from Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,447 miles (18,423 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• In 1950, Air Defense Command activated the 27th Air Division at Norton AFB, being assigned to the Western Air Defense Force.
• The last of the facilities on the base were closed in 1995.
• With the air force moving into the jet age in the late 1940s, Norton began overhauling jet engines in 1951, and the San Bernardino Air Materiel Area became one of three air force jet overhaul centers by 1953.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
• In the 1960s, Norton expanded its depot support mission by supporting Titan and Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles s, with depot-level logistical support.
• Major secondary missions of Norton Air Force Base was as Headquarters Air Defense Command for Southern California, during the 1950s and 1960s.