Nonstop flight route between Shemya, Alaska, United States and Berlin, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Eareckson Air Station (SYA), Shemya, Alaska, United States and Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF), Berlin, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,084 miles (or 8,182 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 Eareckson Air Station 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 Eareckson Air Station 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 Eareckson Air Station (SYA):

• In addition to being known as "Eareckson Air Station", other names for SYA include "Shemya Air Force Base", "Shemya Army Airfield" and "  ".
• The spring of 1944 brought improving weather and the B-24s and PV-1s to fly more missions over the Kuriles.
• The closest airport to Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Casco Cove Coast Guard Station (ATU), which is located 40 miles (65 kilometers) WNW of SYA.
• The furthest airport from Eareckson Air Station (SYA) is Cape Town International Airport (CPT), which is located 10,668 miles (17,168 kilometers) away in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Jurisdiction of Shemya AFB was transferred from the Aerospace Defense Command to the Strategic Air Command when the former was inactivated on 1 October 1979.
• Eareckson Air Station (SYA) currently has only 1 runway.
• On 28 May 1943, a small detachment of Alaskan Scouts began reconnaissance of Shemya, a small, flat, uninhabited island 35 miles to the east of Attu.
• Additional aircraft and personnel reductions occurred in 1945 and almost all air bases other than Alexi Point, Shemya and Davis in the Aleutians were reduced to caretaker status.
• Shemya also continued to support the Great Circle Route for MATS and later Military Airlift Command transports between Japan and Elmendorf AFB.
• Because of Eareckson Air Station's relatively low elevation of 97 feet, planes can take off or land at Eareckson Air Station 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.

Facts about Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF):

• 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.
• Tempelhof Airport closed all operations on 30 October 2008, despite the efforts of some protesters to prevent the closure.
• Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF) has 2 runways.
• 1950 was also the year Air France joined Pan Am at Tempelhof.
• From January 1940 until early-1944, Weser Flugzeugbau assembled Junkers Ju 87 "Stuka" dive bombers.
• Zentralflughafen Tempelhof-Berlin had the advantage of a central location just minutes from the Berlin city centre and quickly became one of the world's busiest airports.
• In addition to being known as "Berlin Tempelhof Airport", another name for THF is "Flughafen Berlin-Tempelhof".
• 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.
• The closest airport to Berlin Tempelhof Airport (THF) is Berlin Tegel Airport (TXL), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) NW of 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.