Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Cottbus-Drewitz Airport (CBU), Cottbus, Brandenburg, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,459 miles (or 7,176 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 Cottbus-Drewitz Airport, 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 Cottbus-Drewitz Airport. 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):

• 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.
• On 1 September 1958, the Strategic Air Command established the 4133d Strategic Wing at Grand Forks as part of its plan to disperse its B-52 heavy bombers over a larger number of bases, thus making it more difficult for the Soviet Union to knock out the entire fleet with a surprise first strike.
• In 1973, the 319th Bomb Wing acquired the AGM-69 Short Range Attack Missile, replacing the older AGM-28 Hound Dog air-to-ground missile aboard its B-52H aircraft.
• 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.
• 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.
• In October 1977, the PAR came under operational control of the USAF, which operated it thereafter as part of its early warning system.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• Due to the continuance of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, GFAFB was originally an Air Defense Command fighter-interceptor air base.
• 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.

Facts about Cottbus-Drewitz Airport (CBU):

• Cottbus-Drewitz Airport is a civilian airport located in Drewitz, an Ortsteil of Jänschwalde, approximately 25 kilometres north-east of Cottbus in Brandenburg, Germany.
• Cottbus-Drewitz Airport (CBU) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Cottbus-Drewitz Airport (CBU) is Berlin Schönefeld Airport (SXF), which is located 55 miles (88 kilometers) NW of CBU.
• In late May 2012, a grass strip at the airport was used to conduct unpaved runway trials of the Airbus A400M military airlifter.
• In addition to being known as "Cottbus-Drewitz Airport", other names for CBU include "Flugplatz Cottbus-Drewitz" and "Cottbus- Drewitz Airport".
• Because of Cottbus-Drewitz Airport's relatively low elevation of 276 feet, planes can take off or land at Cottbus-Drewitz Airport 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.
• Upon German reunification in 1990, the Luftwaffe officially took over the airport once again but after 1993, the airport's new owners, Flughafen Süd-Brandenburg-Cottbus GmbH, had opened it up for civilian use.
• Aside from a bistro serving the terminal, there is also a small aviation museum and flying school.
• The furthest airport from Cottbus-Drewitz Airport (CBU) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,683 miles (18,801 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The airport is most often used for charter flights for the football team FC Energie Cottbus, but is also used for training flights by Air Berlin, TUIfly, Lufthansa and Germania.