Nonstop flight route between Zoersel / Oostmalle, Belgium and San Bernardino, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield (OBL), Zoersel / Oostmalle, Belgium and Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,571 miles (or 8,966 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 Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield and Norton Air Force Base, 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 Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield and Norton Air Force Base. 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 Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield (OBL):

• Because of Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield's relatively low elevation of 53 feet, planes can take off or land at Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield 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 closest airport to Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield (OBL) is Antwerp International Airport (ANR), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) WSW of OBL.
• The furthest airport from Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield (OBL) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,919 miles (19,181 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Zoersel-Oostmalle Airfield (OBL) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Norton Air Force Base (SBD):

• On 1 March 1942, the airport was renamed San Bernardino Army Air Field and the San Bernardino Air Depot was established there.
• During World War II, San Bernardino Army Airfield provided administrative and logistical support for the United States Army Desert Training Center.
• 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.
• 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.
• The closure was cited as due to environmental wastes, inadequate facilities, and air traffic congestion west, and Los Angeles International Airport, 60 miles west).
• 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.
• For the majority of its operational lifetime, Norton was a logistics depot and heavy-lift transport facility for a variety of military aircraft, equipment and supplies as part of Air Materiel/Air Force Logistics Command, then as part of Military Airlift/Air Mobility Command.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".