Nonstop flight route between Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States and Marysville, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL), Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States and Beale Air Force Base (BAB), Marysville, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,881 miles (or 3,028 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 relatively short distance between Northwest Alabama Regional Airport and Beale Air Force Base, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL):

• The closest airport to Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) is Pryor Field Regional Airport (DCU), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) E of MSL.
• Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) has 2 runways.
• Historically, Muscle Shoals was served by Southern Airways which operated Douglas DC-9-10 and DC-9-30 jetliners on nonstop and direct flights to Atlanta.
• Because of Northwest Alabama Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 551 feet, planes can take off or land at Northwest Alabama Regional 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 furthest airport from Northwest Alabama Regional Airport (MSL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,143 miles (17,932 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• As per the Federal Aviation Administration, this airport had 5,061 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 6,897 in 2009, and 8,680 in 2010.
• Northwest Alabama Regional Airport covers an area of 640 acres at an elevation of 551 feet above mean sea level.
• The airport was opened in February 1940, however in 1942 it was taken over by the United States Army Air Forces as a World War II pilot training military airfield.

Facts about Beale Air Force Base (BAB):

• The closest airport to Beale Air Force Base (BAB) is Yuba County Airport (MYV), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) WSW of BAB.
• DC-18 was initially under the San Francisco Air Defense Sector, established on 15 February 1959.
• The base is named for Edward Fitzgerald Beale, an American Navy Lieutenant and a Brigadier General in the California Militia who was an explorer and frontiersman in California.
• The host unit at Beale is the 9th Reconnaissance Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command and part of Twelfth Air Force.
• The furthest airport from Beale Air Force Base (BAB) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,251 miles (18,107 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• In addition to being known as "Beale Air Force Base", another name for BAB is "Beale AFB".
• The 4126th SW was redesignated as the 456th Strategic Aerospace Wing on 1 February 1963 in a name-only redesigation and was assigned to SAC's Fifteenth Air Force, 14th Strategic Aerospace Division.
• In 1962, in order to retain the lineage of its MAJCOM 4-digit combat units and to perpetuate the lineage of many currently inactive bombardment units with illustrious World War II records, Headquarters SAC received authority from Headquarters USAF to discontinue its MAJCOM strategic wings that were equipped with combat aircraft and to activate AFCON units, most of which were inactive at the time which could carry a lineage and history.
• Camp Beale also housed a German POW camp, and served as the main camp for a series of satellite POW camps around northern California.
• On 16 May 1964, Defense Secretary McNamara directed the accelerated phaseout of the Atlas and Titan I ICBMs.