Nonstop flight route between Great Falls, Montana, United States and Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Malmstrom Air Force Base (GFA), Great Falls, Montana, United States and Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport (ZQZ), Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,717 miles (or 9,200 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 Zhangjiakou Ningyuan 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 Zhangjiakou Ningyuan 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):

• 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.
• Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union increased dramatically when the Soviet Union closed all land travel between the western occupation sectors of Germany and the American, French and British sectors of Berlin.
• Z-147 was completely replaced by a new ARSR-4 JSS site on Bootlegger Ridge, about 14 miles northeast of Great Falls AFB.
• 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.
• Aircraft shipments to the Soviet Union stopped in September 1945, when World War II ended, with approximately 8,000 aircraft having been processed in a 21-month period.
• In addition to being known as "Malmstrom Air Force Base", another name for GFA is "Malmstrom AFB".
• 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.
• Malmstrom Air Force Base traces its beginnings back to 1939 when World War II broke out in Europe.
• On 1 July 1968, the F-101B equipped 29th FIS was inactivated and replaced by the F-106 Delta Dart equipped 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, which was reassigned from Richards Gebaur AFB when its ADC mission was eliminated.
• The base's runway was closed on 31 December 1996 for aircraft operations.

Facts about Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport (ZQZ):

• The furthest airport from Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport (ZQZ) is Antoine de Saint Exupéry Airport (OES), which is nearly antipodal to Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport (meaning Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Antoine de Saint Exupéry Airport), and is located 12,435 miles (20,012 kilometers) away in San Antonio Oeste, Argentina.
• In addition to being known as "Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport", other names for ZQZ include "张家口宁远机场" and "Zhāngjiākǒu Níngyuǎn Jīchǎng".
• The closest airport to Zhangjiakou Ningyuan Airport (ZQZ) is Datong Yungang Airport (DAT), which is located 89 miles (144 kilometers) WSW of ZQZ.