Nonstop flight route between San Bernardino, California, United States and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,136 miles (or 16,312 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 Norton Air Force Base and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo 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 Norton Air Force Base and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo 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 Norton Air Force Base (SBD):

• Recently, private development on the former base has helped turn the basically unused land into jobs and revenue for the city of San Bernardino as several companies have opened distribution centers on the property.
• LAADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966 and the designation was returned as the 27th Air Division, being stationed at Luke AFB, Arizona under Fourth Air Force as part of a consolidation with the inactivating Phoenix Air Defense Sector.
• The furthest airport from Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,447 miles (18,423 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The SAGE Direction Center closed in 1966 along with the other ADC facilities at Norton.
• The closure was cited as due to environmental wastes, inadequate facilities, and air traffic congestion west, and Los Angeles International Airport, 60 miles west).
• Norton was placed on the Department of Defense's base closure list in 1989.
• Norton Air Force Base was named for San Bernardino native Captain Leland Francis Norton.
• For the majority of its operational lifetime, Norton was a logistics depot and heavy-lift transport facility for a variety of military aircraft, equipment and supplies as part of Air Materiel/Air Force Logistics Command, then as part of Military Airlift/Air Mobility Command.
• The closest airport to Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is San Bernardino International Airport (SBT), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) S of SBD.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
• With the air force moving into the jet age in the late 1940s, Norton began overhauling jet engines in 1951, and the San Bernardino Air Materiel Area became one of three air force jet overhaul centers by 1953.

Facts about Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ):

• The furthest airport from Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ) is Hilo International Airport (ITO), which is nearly antipodal to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (meaning Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hilo International Airport), and is located 12,198 miles (19,630 kilometers) away in Hilo, Hawaii, United States.
• The closest airport to Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ) is Gweru-Thornhill Air Base (GWE), which is located 90 miles (145 kilometers) ENE of BUQ.
• Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ) has 2 runways.
• Because of Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport's high elevation of 4,359 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at BUQ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make BUQ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.