Nonstop flight route between Santa Ana, California, United States and San Bernardino, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MCAS El Toro (NZJ), Santa Ana, California, United States and Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 41 miles (or 65 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 MCAS El Toro and Norton 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 MCAS El Toro (NZJ):

• The closest airport to MCAS El Toro (NZJ) is John Wayne Airport (SNA), which is located only 8 miles (13 kilometers) W of NZJ.
• The base headquarters was established on November 4, 1942 and the first landing occurred in late November when a Major Micheal Carmichael, flying from Camp Kearny, was forced to make an emergency landing among the construction equipment.
• In 1950, El Toro was selected as a permanent Master Jet Station for the Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific.
• MCAS El Toro (NZJ) has 5 runways.
• The battle between pro-airport and anti-airport groups dominated Orange County politics for much of the late 1990s and early 2000s.
• The furthest airport from MCAS El Toro (NZJ) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,486 miles (18,486 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Because of MCAS El Toro's relatively low elevation of 383 feet, planes can take off or land at MCAS El Toro 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 land originally surrounding the base was mostly at agricultural use when it first opened, but it the late 1980s and early 1990s, residential development started to begin in the area.

Facts about Norton Air Force Base (SBD):

• During World War II, San Bernardino Army Airfield provided administrative and logistical support for the United States Army Desert Training Center.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
• Major secondary missions of Norton Air Force Base was as Headquarters Air Defense Command for Southern California, during the 1950s and 1960s.
• Recently, private development on the former base has helped turn the basically unused land into jobs and revenue for the city of San Bernardino as several companies have opened distribution centers on the property.
• Norton Air Force Base began before World War II as Municipal Airport, San Bernardino under Army Air Corps jurisdiction.
• The SAGE Direction Center closed in 1966 along with the other ADC facilities at Norton.
• The closest airport to Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is San Bernardino International Airport (SBT), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) S of SBD.
• With the air force moving into the jet age in the late 1940s, Norton began overhauling jet engines in 1951, and the San Bernardino Air Materiel Area became one of three air force jet overhaul centers by 1953.
• The furthest airport from Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,447 miles (18,423 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Norton was placed on the Department of Defense's base closure list in 1989.
• Discrete C-130 Hercules modification tests were conducted out of Area II of the base in the late 1960s, with the 1198th Operational Evaluation and Training Squadron operating four highly classified C-130E special operations testbeds modified at Lockheed Air Services, at near-by Ontario Airport under projects Thin Slice and Heavy Chain.