Nonstop flight route between Edwards, California, United States and Funafuti, Tuvalu:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States and Funafuti International Airport (FUN), Funafuti, Tuvalu would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,077 miles (or 8,170 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 Edwards Air Force Base and Funafuti International 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 Edwards Air Force Base and Funafuti International 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 Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• The North Base is located at the north-west corner of Rogers Lake and is the site of the Air Force's most secret test programs at Edwards.
• On the afternoon of 7 December 1941, the 41st Bombardment Group and the 6th Reconnaissance Squadron moved to Muroc from Davis-Monthan Army Airfield, Arizona with a collection of B-18 Bolos, an A-29 Hudson and B-25 Mitchells.
• The furthest airport from Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,414 miles (18,369 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• It is the home of the Air Force Test Center and is the Air Force Materiel Command center of excellence for conducting and supporting research and developmental flight test and evaluation of aerospace systems from concept to combat.
• With the end of the war, Fourth Air Force relinquished command of Muroc Army Airfield on 16 October 1945 and jurisdiction was transferred to Air Technical Service Command, becoming Air Materiel Command in 1946.
• Notable occurrences at Edwards include Chuck Yeager's flight that broke the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, test flights of the North American X-15, the first landings of the Space Shuttle, and the 1986 around-the-world flight of the Rutan Voyager.
• The closest airport to Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) NW of EDW.

Facts about Funafuti International Airport (FUN):

• The closest airport to Funafuti International Airport (FUN) is Arorae Island Airport (AIS), which is located 440 miles (708 kilometers) NNW of FUN.
• The first offensive operation was launched on 20 April 1943 when 22 B-24 Liberator aircraft from 371 and 372 Bombardment Squadrons bombed Nauru.
• Because of Funafuti International Airport's relatively low elevation of 9 feet, planes can take off or land at Funafuti International 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.
• In November 2013 the World Bank approved US$6.06 million in finance for the existing Tuvalu Aviation Investment Project for the purpose of improving operational safety and oversight of international air transport and associated infrastructure at Funafuti International Airport.
• The runway was originally constructed using coral aggregate and has a sub-base layer of 8 cm thick coral gravel, surfaced with a 1–2 cm asphalt chip seal.
• The furthest airport from Funafuti International Airport (FUN) is Tamale Airport (TML), which is nearly antipodal to Funafuti International Airport (meaning Funafuti International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tamale Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana.
• Funafuti International Airport (FUN) currently has only 1 runway.
• By the middle of 1944, as the fighting moved further north toward Japan, the Americans began to withdraw.
• The military airfield included an airstrip, control tower, facilities and radio station at Tepuka, connected by cable to the airfield.
• Funafuti International Airport is an airport in Funafuti, capital of the island nation of Tuvalu.