Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Libreville, Gabon:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport (LBV), Libreville, Gabon would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,966 miles (or 11,211 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 Libreville Leon M'ba International 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 Libreville Leon M'ba International 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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".
• 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.
• 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 18 February 1957, the 478th Fighter Group was activated at Grand Forks.

Facts about Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport (LBV):

• Because of Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport's relatively low elevation of 39 feet, planes can take off or land at Libreville Leon M'ba International 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.
• The closest airport to Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport (LBV) is Bata Airport (BSG), which is located 104 miles (167 kilometers) NNE of LBV.
• Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport (LBV) currently has only 1 runway.
• Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport handled 721,411 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport (LBV) is Canton Island Airport (CIS), which is nearly antipodal to Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport (meaning Libreville Leon M'ba International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Canton Island Airport), and is located 12,259 miles (19,730 kilometers) away in Canton Island, Kiribati.