Nonstop flight route between Great Falls, Montana, United States and Lübeck (near Hamburg), Schleswig-Holstein, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA), Great Falls, Montana, United States and Lübeck Airport (LBC), Lübeck (near Hamburg), Schleswig-Holstein, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,657 miles (or 7,495 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base and Lübeck 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base and Lübeck 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 Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA):

• DC-20 was initially under the Great Falls Air Defense Sector, established on 1 March 1959.
• At Great Falls, P-39 Airacobras, C-47 Skytrains, B-25 Mitchells, and A-20 Havocs aircraft.
• Malmstrom Air Force Base traces its beginnings back to 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe.
• In addition to being known as "Malmstrom Air Force Base", another name for GFA is "Malmstrom AFB".
• With the development of the three-stage, solid-fuel Minuteman I missile in the late 1950s SAC began searching for sites to deploy this revolutionary weapon.
• In 1957, under the control of the 801st Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron, the Malmstrom AFB radar station became operational with AN/FPS-20 search and AN/FPS-6 height-finder radars.
• The furthest airport from Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,495 miles (16,891 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Great Falls became the temporary home of the 582nd Air Resupply and Communications Wing on 1 May 1953 which was transferred from Mountain Home AFB, Idaho.
• The closest airport to Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA) is Great Falls International Airport (GTF), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) W of GFA.
• This included one of the greatest technology transfers in the history of the world.

Facts about Lübeck Airport (LBC):

• There are some additional holiday charter routes on behalf of local tour operators which are served only a few times a season.
• The closest airport to Lübeck Airport (LBC) is Hamburg Airport (HAM), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) WSW of LBC.
• After the re-unification of Germany, the airport started to grow heavily.
• The furthest airport from Lübeck Airport (LBC) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,674 miles (18,787 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Infratil, an infrastructure investment company from New Zealand held a 90% shareholding from November 2005 until the end of October 2009 when it sold its shares back to the City of Lübeck.
• Lübeck Airport (LBC) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Lübeck Airport's relatively low elevation of 53 feet, planes can take off or land at Lübeck 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 addition to being known as "Lübeck Airport", another name for LBC is "Flughafen Lübeck".
• Lübeck Airport handled 537,835 passengers last year.
• Regional trains run every hour between Kiel and Lüneburg, stopping at the airport's own station Lübeck-Flughafen as well as Lübeck main station.
• A new ILS CAT II system went operational in February 2014 allowing planes to operate at the airport in more difficult weather conditions.