Nonstop flight route between Upington, South Africa and Bossier City, Louisiana, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Upington Airport (UTN), Upington, South Africa and Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD), Bossier City, Louisiana, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,611 miles (or 13,858 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 Upington Airport and Barksdale Air Force Base, 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 Upington Airport and Barksdale Air Force Base. 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 Upington Airport (UTN):

• The closest airport to Upington Airport (UTN) is Johan Pienaar Airport (KMH), which is located 147 miles (236 kilometers) ENE of UTN.
• Upington Airport (UTN) has 3 runways.
• Upington Airport is an airport located in Upington, Northern Cape, South Africa.
• The furthest airport from Upington Airport (UTN) is Princeville Airport (HPV), which is nearly antipodal to Upington Airport (meaning Upington Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Princeville Airport), and is located 12,007 miles (19,323 kilometers) away in Hanalei, Hawaii, United States.
• From August 1976 to December 1996, South African Airways made use of Upington as a refuelling station for two weekly scheduled Boeing 747 flights to London and Zurich.

Facts about Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD):

• Construction of Barksdale Field began in 1931, when hangars, runways, and billets were built.
• Units at Barksdale include the oldest bomb wing in the Air Force, the 2d Bomb Wing.
• The first SAC unit at Barksdale was the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing was reassigned to the base from McGuire AFB on 1 October.
• The furthest airport from Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD) is Cocos (Keeling) Island Airport (CCK), which is located 10,884 miles (17,516 kilometers) away in Cocos Islands, Australia.
• Barksdale Field was named in honor of 2nd Lieutenant Eugene Hoy Barksdale on 2 February 1933.
• The 335th Bombardment Group took over training duties as a permanent Operational Training Unit on 17 July 1942 with Martin B-26 Marauders.
• Airships were still in use when field construction began, so Hangars One and Two were built large enough to accommodate them.
• Also during World War II Barksdale played host to the major contingent of the Free French Air Forces and Nationalist Chinese aircrews.
• The closest airport to Barksdale Air Force Base (BAD) is Shreveport Downtown Airport (DTN), which is located only 5 miles (9 kilometers) WNW of BAD.
• In addition to being known as "Barksdale Air Force Base", another name for BAD is "Barksdale AFB".