Nonstop flight route between Pituffik, Greenland and Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Thule Air Base (THU), Pituffik, Greenland and Smith Field (SMD), Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,494 miles (or 4,013 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 relatively short distance between Thule Air Base and Smith Field, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Thule Air Base (THU):

• Thule Air Base has served as the regional hub for nearby installations, including Cape Atholl, Camp Century, Camp TUTO, Sites 1 and 2, P-Mountain, J-Site, North and South Mountains, and a research rocket firing site.
• On 21 January 1968, a B-52G Stratofortress from the 380th Strategic Aerospace Wing, Plattsburgh Air Force Base, New York on a secret airborne nuclear alert crashed and burned on the ice near Thule Air Base.
• Thule Air Base is the U.S.
• Late 1950s the DEW 1 to 4 where build as "weather stations", Thule Air Base would act as an supply station for the DYE bases.
• Originally established as a Strategic Air Command installation, Thule would periodically serve as a dispersal base for B-36 Peacemaker and B-47 Stratojet aircraft during the 1950s, as well as providing an ideal site to test the operability and maintainability of these weapon systems in extreme cold weather.
• In the winter of 1956/57 three KC-97 tankers and alternately one of two RB-47H aircraft made polar flights to inspect Soviet defenses.
• The furthest airport from Thule Air Base (THU) is Hobart International Airport (HBA), which is located 9,883 miles (15,905 kilometers) away in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.
• Knud Rasmussen was the first to recognize the Pituffik plain as ideal for an airport.
• The closest airport to Thule Air Base (THU) is Savissivik Heliport (SVR), which is located 69 miles (111 kilometers) ESE of THU.
• After the German occupation of Denmark on 9 April 1940, Henrik Kauffmann Danish Ambassador to the United States, made an agreement "In the name of the king" with the United States authorizing the United States to defend the Danish colonies on Greenland from German aggression - this agreement faced Kaufmann with a charge of high treason.
• In addition to being known as "Thule Air Base", another name for THU is "Thule AB".

Facts about Smith Field (SMD):

• Smith Field (SMD) has 4 runways.
• Because of Smith Field's relatively low elevation of 835 feet, planes can take off or land at Smith Field 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 2010 Runway 5/23 was rebuilt.
• The closest airport to Smith Field (SMD) is Fort Wayne International Airport (FWA), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) S of SMD.
• Federal New Deal employment programs of the Great Depression further upgraded the airfield.
• The furthest airport from Smith Field (SMD) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,224 miles (18,064 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.