Nonstop flight route between Imperial Beach, California, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach (NRS), Imperial Beach, California, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,426 miles (or 8,733 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 Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach and RAF Fairford, 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 Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach and RAF Fairford. 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 Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach (NRS):

• In the early 1920s the Navy began using Ream Field for practice carrier landings, but the field was not considered as advantageous for expansion as Brown Field, some 8 miles inland, and did not develop much further until later during World War II.
• In 1951, Ream Field Imperial Beach became home to its first helicopter squadron when HU-1 moved on board.
• Presently OLF Imperial Beach encompasses 1,204 acres with 270 of those acres leased out for agricultural purposes and 284 acres leased to the State of California for a wildlife refuge at the southeast corner by the base itself.
• Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach (NRS) has 2 runways.
• On August 1, 1974, NAS Imperial Beach was once again re-designated as a Naval Auxiliary Landing Field and in October 1975 was designated an Outlying Field and presently operates as a branch of Naval Base Coronado.
• The furthest airport from Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach (NRS) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,552 miles (18,590 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach", another name for NRS is "Ream Field".
• The closest airport to Naval Outlying Landing Field Imperial Beach (NRS) is Brown Field Municipal Airport (SDM), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) E of NRS.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.