Nonstop flight route between Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States and San Bernardino, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grider Field (PBF), Pine Bluff, Arkansas, United States and Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 1,443 miles (or 2,322 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 Grider Field 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 Grider Field (PBF):

• Because of Grider Field's relatively low elevation of 206 feet, planes can take off or land at Grider Field 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 Grider Field (PBF) is Stuttgart Municipal Airport (SGT), which is located 36 miles (58 kilometers) NE of PBF.
• Grider Field (PBF) currently has only 1 runway.
• Grider Field covers an area of 750 acres at an elevation of 206 feet above mean sea level.
• The furthest airport from Grider Field (PBF) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,894 miles (17,532 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Inactivated on 30 November 1944 with the drawdown of AAFTC's pilot training program.
• Opened in April 1941 with 6,300' x 6,380' open turf field.

Facts about Norton Air Force Base (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.
• 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.
• Norton was placed on the Department of Defense's base closure list in 1989.
• 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.
• LAADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966 and the designation was returned as the 27th Air Division, being stationed at Luke AFB, Arizona under Fourth Air Force as part of a consolidation with the inactivating Phoenix Air Defense Sector.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
• Norton Air Force Base was named for San Bernardino native Captain Leland Francis Norton.
• The aviation facilities of the base were converted into San Bernardino International Airport, and 3 of the 4 stationed squadrons – C-141 Starlifter, C-21, and C-12 Huron aircraft – were moved to nearby March Air Force Base, while the remaining squadron – C-141 aircraft – was moved to McChord Air Force Base, Washington.
• 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.