Nonstop flight route between Universal City, Texas, United States and Berlin, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND), Universal City, Texas, United States and Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF), Berlin, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,441 miles (or 8,757 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 Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio and Berlin Tempelhof 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 Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio and Berlin Tempelhof 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 Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND):

• The furthest airport from Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,103 miles (17,869 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio", another name for RND is "Randolph AFB".
• General Lahm established the Air Corps Training Center in August 1926 and set up its headquarters at Duncan Field, next to Kelly Field, Texas.
• Between October 1931 and March 1935, more than 2,000 candidates reported for pilot training at Randolph, which began a new class every fourth months.
• On 1 April 1952, the Air Force established the Crew Training Air Force with its headquarters at Randolph to administer nine bases and combat crew training wings, including the 3510th.
• The closest airport to Randolph Air Force Base Joint Base San Antonio (RND) is San Antonio International Airport (SAT), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) W of RND.
• The Military Affairs Committee of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce quickly took the forefront in the search for an airfield location, which had to be suited to the airfield design, rather than the other way around as commonly done.
• Once the site for the field was selected, a committee decided to name the base after Captain William Millican Randolph, a native of Austin and graduate of Texas A&M, who was killed on 17 February 1928, in the crash of a Curtiss AT-4 Hawk, 27–220, on takeoff from Gorman Field, Texas.

Facts about Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF):

• The furthest airport from Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,687 miles (18,808 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Because of Berlin Tempelhof Airport's relatively low elevation of 164 feet, planes can take off or land at Berlin Tempelhof 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 new air terminal was designed as headquarters for Deutsche Luft Hansa, the German national airline at that time.
• Following the end of the Berlin Blockade, AOA launched additional dedicated scheduled domestic services linking Tempelhof with Hamburg Fuhlsbüttel and Düsseldorf Lohausen from 6 March and 1 June 1950 respectively.
• The site of the airport was originally Knights Templar land in medieval Berlin, and from this beginning came the name Tempelhof.
• The closest airport to Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF) is Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) NW of THF.
• Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF) has 2 runways.
• Fearing Allied bombing of airports, all German civil aviation was halted on 2 September 1939, but gradually restarted from 1 November.
• Operation Vittles, as the airlift was unofficially named, began on 26 June when USAF Douglas C-47 Skytrains carried 80 tons of food into Tempelhof, far less than the estimated 4,500 tons of food, coal and other essential supplies needed daily to maintain a minimum level of existence.
• In addition to being known as "Berlin Tempelhof Airport", another name for THF is "Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof".
• The grass runways usual in Germany until then could not cope with the massive demand, and a subsequently built runway containing perforated steel matting began to crumble under the weight of the USAF's C-54 Skymasters.