Nonstop flight route between Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Brescia, Italy:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Grand Forks Air Force Base (RDR), Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States and Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio (VBS), Brescia, Italy would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,650 miles (or 7,483 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 Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio, 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 Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio. 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.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Grand Forks Air Force Base", another name for RDR is "Grand Forks AFB".
• 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.
• Grand Forks Air Force Base was established on 1 December 1955, with construction beginning in the fall of that year.

Facts about Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio (VBS):

• The closest airport to Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio (VBS) is Verona Airport (VRN), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) E of VBS.
• Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio handled 22,669 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio (VBS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio (meaning Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,085 miles (19,449 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Ryanair operated scheduled flights to and from London Stansted Airport and Cagliari-Elmas Airport until the end of October 2010, when the airline decided to move these flights to the nearby Verona Airport from which it has since pulled out after investigations of subsidies granted there.
• Because of Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio's relatively low elevation of 356 feet, planes can take off or land at Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio 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.
• In addition to being known as "Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio", another name for VBS is "Aeroporto di Brescia-Montichiari".
• Brescia Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio (VBS) currently has only 1 runway.