Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,954 miles (or 6,364 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 Grand Forks Air Force Base and RAF Brize Norton, 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 Grand Forks Air Force Base and RAF Brize Norton. 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 Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR):

• On 26 May 1972, President Nixon and Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty, which limited each nation to one site to protect strategic forces and one site to protect the "National Command Authority." With work about 85 percent complete at Grand Forks, the United States chose to finish construction at the North Dakota site.
• Opened 57 years ago in early 1957, the base's current host unit is the 319th Air Base Wing assigned to the Expeditionary Center of the Air Mobility Command.
• 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.
• On 1 November 1964, 321st Strategic Missile Wing was organized as the Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile wing at GFAFB, the first in SAC.
• 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.
• 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.
• Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 319th Air Base Wing.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".

Facts about RAF Brize Norton (BZZ):

• With the closure of RAF Lyneham taking place in late 2011, the repatriation of British personnel was relocated to Brize Norton on 8 September 2011.
• The Hercules fleet at RAF Lyneham officially moved to Brize Norton on 1 July 2011.
• The closest airport to RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WSW of BZZ.
• The furthest airport from RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,888 miles (19,132 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• By 1950 the USAF Strategic Air Command was based at RAF Lakenheath, RAF Marham, and RAF Sculthorpe.
• The station is home to the Administrative Wing, Airport of Embarkation Wing, Depth Support Wing, Forward Support Wing and Operations Wing.