Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Dortmund Airport (DTM), Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,266 miles (or 6,865 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 Dortmund 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 Dortmund 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):

• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.
• 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.
• On 1 February 1993, ACC dropped the 319th Bomb Wing's primary nuclear mission and gave the wing the primary mission of B-1B conventional bombardment operations.
• 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 DC-11 SAGE blockhouse was later the headquarters of the SAC 321st Strategic Missile Wing.
• 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.
• 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.
• On 3 September 1974, the SAFSCOM Site Activation Team was relieved by the U.S.

Facts about Dortmund Airport (DTM):

• The closest airport to Dortmund Airport (DTM) is Düsseldorf Airport (DUS), which is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) WSW of DTM.
• Dortmund Airport (DTM) currently has only 1 runway.
• From late 2000 onwards, Dortmund Airport has experienced a drastic increase in air traffic.
• Over the next decades Düsseldorf Airport and Cologne Bonn Airport were the dominant commercial airports in the Rhine-Ruhr Area.
• The furthest airport from Dortmund Airport (DTM) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,872 miles (19,106 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Since 2006 it has been carrying the name "Dortmund Airport 21", in reference to the fact that Dortmund's utility company, DSW21, is its major shareholder.
• In addition to being known as "Dortmund Airport", another name for DTM is "Flughafen Dortmund".
• Because of Dortmund Airport's relatively low elevation of 425 feet, planes can take off or land at Dortmund 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.
• Commercial service was restored in 1979 with daily flights to Munich by Reise- und Industrieflug.