Nonstop flight route between Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Beauvais, France:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Shaw Air Force Base (SSC), Sumter, South Carolina, United States and Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA), Beauvais, France would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,172 miles (or 6,714 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 Shaw Air Force Base and Beauvais–Tillé 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 Shaw Air Force Base and Beauvais–Tillé 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 Shaw Air Force Base (SSC):

• The 20th FG was reassigned to Langley AFB, Virginia on 1 December 1951 in preparation for a permanent overseas deployment to RAF Wethersfield, England to support NATO.
• Shaw Army Airfield was designated a permanent Army Air Forces instantiation after the war, being transferred to Continental Air Forces on 16 April 1945.
• The furthest airport from Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,545 miles (18,580 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• On 1 April 1951, the 363d TRW was transferred to Shaw from Langley Air Force Base, Virginia The 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing would remain at Shaw, under various designations, for the next 43 years.
• The closest airport to Shaw Air Force Base (SSC) is Sumter Airport (SUM), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) ENE of SSC.
• By 1980, the advent of reconnaissance satellites made the need for tactical aircraft reconnaissance less and less necessary.
• In October 1942, the flight training was changed to Advanced flying training and AT-6 Texan single-engine and Beech AT-10 twin-engine trainers were used.

Facts about Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA):

• In 1950 the Air Ministry offered to provide the wartime air base to NATO as part of the Cold War development of the alliance.
• The closest airport to Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA) is Amiens - Glisy Aerodrome (QAM), which is located 31 miles (51 kilometers) NNE of BVA.
• Because of Beauvais–Tillé Airport's relatively low elevation of 359 feet, planes can take off or land at Beauvais–Tillé 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 furthest airport from Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Beauvais–Tillé Airport (meaning Beauvais–Tillé Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,041 miles (19,378 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Beauvais–Tillé Airport handled 386,256 passengers last year.
• Beauvais–Tillé Airport (BVA) has 2 runways.
• With the Luftwaffe switching to night attacks on England, the badly damaged units at Beauvais were replaced by a series of He 111 and Ju 88A units that carried out anti-shipping missions.
• The airport is equipped to handle medium-sized passenger jets.
• In addition to being known as "Beauvais–Tillé Airport", another name for BVA is "Aéroport de Beauvais-TilléAdvanced Landing Ground (ALG) A-61/B-42".