Nonstop flight route between Lompoc, California, United States and Bristol, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG), Lompoc, California, United States and Bristol Airport (BRS), Bristol, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,399 miles (or 8,688 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 Vandenberg Air Force Base and Bristol 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 Vandenberg Air Force Base and Bristol 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 Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG):

• In addition to being known as "Vandenberg Air Force Base", another name for VBG is "Vandenberg AFB".
• Although the construction of Camp Cooke continued well into 1942, troop training did not wait.
• The furthest airport from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,479 miles (18,473 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The closest airport to Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG) is Lompoc Airport (LPC), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) SE of VBG.
• Vandenberg AFB is a Department of Defense space and missile testing base, with a mission of placing satellites into polar orbit from the West Coast, using expendable boosters.
• Construction of the Army camp began in September 1941.
• Vandenberg Air Force Base is named in honor of the late General Hoyt S.

Facts about Bristol Airport (BRS):

• Bristol Airport handled 6,131,896 passengers last year.
• Because of Bristol Airport's relatively low elevation of 622 feet, planes can take off or land at Bristol 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.
• In January 2001 the airport was purchased for £198m, by a joint venture of Macquarie Bank and Cintra, part of the Ferrovial group.
• In mid-1997 the airport's name was changed to Bristol International Airport.
• The furthest airport from Bristol Airport (BRS) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,941 miles (19,217 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The Airports Act 1986 required every municipal airport with a turnover greater than £1 million to be turned into a public limited company.
• The airport has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers and for flying instruction.
• By 1980, although 17 charter airlines were operating from the airport, it was making a loss.
• Bristol Airport (BRS) currently has only 1 runway.
• In 1944, BOAC started to use the airfield for Dakota and Liberator crew training, and BOAC flights made use of it occasionally as an alternate airfield for Whitchurch, and for topping-up fuel on the Bristol–Lisbon route.
• In response to the UK Governments's 2003 White Paper The Future of Air Transport, the airport published a Master Plan for expansion over the period 2006–2030.
• The closest airport to Bristol Airport (BRS) is Bristol Filton Airport (FZO), which is located only 11 miles (18 kilometers) NNE of BRS.
• In 1962 a new control tower was built, and in 1965 the runway was lengthened and extensions were made to the terminal.