Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Boutilimit, Mauritania:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Boutilimit Airport (OTL), Boutilimit, Mauritania would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,993 miles (or 8,035 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 Boutilimit 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 Boutilimit 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):

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• Grand Forks AFB is the home of the Air Mobility Command's 319th Air Base Wing.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• On 3 September 1974, the SAFSCOM Site Activation Team was relieved by the U.S.

Facts about Boutilimit Airport (OTL):

• The closest airport to Boutilimit Airport (OTL) is Podor Airport (POD), which is located 62 miles (100 kilometers) SSW of OTL.
• The furthest airport from Boutilimit Airport (OTL) is Norsup Airport (NUS), which is nearly antipodal to Boutilimit Airport (meaning Boutilimit Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Norsup Airport), and is located 12,266 miles (19,741 kilometers) away in Norsup, Malakula island, Vanuatu.