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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG), Lompoc, California, United States and RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,418 miles (or 8,719 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 RAF Brize Norton, 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 RAF Brize Norton. 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):

• 576th Flight Test Squadron
• The host unit at Vandenberg AFB is the 30th Space Wing.
• Although the construction of Camp Cooke continued well into 1942, troop training did not wait.
• Joint Functional Component Command for Space
• In addition to being known as "Vandenberg Air Force Base", another name for VBG is "Vandenberg AFB".
• The closest airport to Vandenberg Air Force Base (VBG) is Lompoc Airport (LPC), which is located only 7 miles (12 kilometers) SE of VBG.
• 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.
• Construction of the Army camp began in September 1941.

Facts about RAF Brize Norton (BZZ):

• During the 2003 Iraq War four anti-war protesters managed to access the main runway in an attempt to prevent aircraft taking off.
• The closest airport to RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is RAF Fairford (FFD), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WSW of BZZ.
• Major infrastructure redevelopment began in 2010 ahead of the closure of RAF Lyneham in 2012, at which point Brize Norton became the sole air point of embarkation for British troops.
• The furthest airport from RAF Brize Norton (BZZ) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,888 miles (19,132 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The station is home to Air Transport, Air-to-Air refuelling and Military Parachuting, with aircraft operating from the station including the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and Airbus A330 MRTT Voyager which replaced the now decommissioned Lockheed TriStar in March 2014.
• Brize Norton is already a major airbase for the RAF's transport fleet.
• To accommodate this expansion, a major infrastructure redevelopment, "Programme Future Brize" was established in 2009.
• Following the Falklands War, the RAF found itself lacking in the strategic transport capabilities required to sustain the expanded military presence there.
• On 19 September 2005, Brize Norton was closed as part of a major upgrade project.
• By the end of June 2011 all flying units from RAF Lyneham had moved to RAF Brize Norton.