Nonstop flight route between Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States and Anchorage, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Pope Field (POB), Fayetteville, North Carolina, United States and Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF), Anchorage, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,498 miles (or 5,629 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 Pope Field and Elmendorf 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 Pope Field and Elmendorf 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 Pope Field (POB):

• In addition, the USAF 18th Air Support Operations Group, 427th Special Operations Squadron, 21st Special Tactics Squadron, 24th Special Tactics Squadron, and Air Force Combat Control School operate from Pope Field.
• The furthest airport from Pope Field (POB) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,630 miles (18,716 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• On September 21, 1954, Ninth AF turned Pope over to the 464th Troop Carrier Wing which transferred from Lawson AFB, Georgia.
• The drop zones, low-level routes, and dirt landing zones at Fort Bragg became familiar to many men bound for Southeast Asia.
• The 10th TRG was inactivated on April 1, 1949 and the host unit at Pope was the 4415th Air Base Group.
• The 317th TAW flew the C-130E aircraft.
• The closest airport to Pope Field (POB) is Simmons Army Airfield (FBG), which is located only 5 miles (8 kilometers) ESE of POB.
• On December 1, 1974 the Military Airlift Command took responsibility for tactical airlift and assumed command of Pope with all of its assigned units.
• Headquarters, Ninth Air Force, was located at Pope in August 1950.

Facts about Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF):

• The adjacent facilities were officially combined by the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment Commission.
• The furthest airport from Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF) is Port Elizabeth International Airport (PLZ), which is located 10,542 miles (16,965 kilometers) away in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
• The Department of Defense proposed a major realignment of the base as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program announced on 13 May 2005.
• That importance was further recognized when the F-15E Strike Eagle equipped 90th Tactical Fighter Squadron was reassigned to Elmendorf Air Force Base from Clark Air Base in the Philippines in May 1991.
• The closest airport to Elmendorf Air Force Base (EDF) is Merrill Field (MRI), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) SSW of EDF.
• The uncertain world situation in late 1940s and early 1950s caused a major buildup of air defense forces in Alaska.
• In addition to being known as "Elmendorf Air Force Base", another name for EDF is "JB Elmendorf-Richardson".