Nonstop flight route between Besançon / La Vèze, France and Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome (QBQ), Besançon / La Vèze, France and Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,420 miles (or 7,113 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 Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome and Grand Forks 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 Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome and Grand Forks 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 Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome (QBQ):

• In addition to being known as "Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome", another name for QBQ is "Aérodrome de Besançon - La Vèze".
• Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome (QBQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome (QBQ) is Dole - Jura Airport (DLE), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) WSW of QBQ.
• The furthest airport from Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome (QBQ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome (meaning Besançon - La Vèze Aerodrome is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,172 miles (19,589 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• The furthest airport from Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,504 miles (16,904 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base is a United States Air Force installation in northeastern North Dakota, located north of Emerado and 16 miles west of Grand Forks.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• The DC-11 SAGE blockhouse was later the headquarters of the SAC 321st Strategic Missile Wing.
• The 4133d SW was redesignated as the 319th Bombardment Wing on 1 February 1963 in a name-only redesigation and was assigned to SAC's Second Air Force, 810th Strategic Aerospace Division.
• SAGE operations were extremely expansive and GFADS was inactivated on 1 December 1963, when it was merged with the Minot Air Defense Sector at Minot AFB to the west.
• During the Cold War, GFAFB was a major installation of the Strategic Air Command, with B-52 bombers, KC-135 tankers, and Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles.
• The closest airport to Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR) is Grand Forks International Airport (GFK), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) E of RDR.
• Following the departure of the last B-1B aircraft in 1994, the base transferred to the new Air Mobility Command and the 319th Bomb Wing was redesignated as the 319th Air Refueling Wing.