Nonstop flight route between Vadsø, Finnmark, Norway and San Bernardino, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Vadsø Airport (VDS), Vadsø, Finnmark, Norway and Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,054 miles (or 8,133 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 Vadsø Airport and Norton 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 Vadsø Airport and Norton 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 Vadsø Airport (VDS):

• The airport is located at Kiby, 4 kilometers east of the town center of Vadsø.
• Because of Vadsø Airport's relatively low elevation of 127 feet, planes can take off or land at Vadsø 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 addition to being known as "Vadsø Airport", another name for VDS is "Vadsø lufthavn".
• Vadsø Airport is a regional airport in Vadsø Municipality in Finnmark county, Norway.
• Vadsø Airport handled 81,772 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Vadsø Airport (VDS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 10,407 miles (16,748 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The first seaplane route to Vadsø was started by Widerøe in 1938, which flew along the coast south to Trondheim.
• The closest airport to Vadsø Airport (VDS) is Kirkenes Airport, Høybuktmoen (KKN), which is located 24 miles (38 kilometers) S of VDS.

Facts about Norton Air Force Base (SBD):

• LAADS was inactivated on 1 April 1966 and the designation was returned as the 27th Air Division, being stationed at Luke AFB, Arizona under Fourth Air Force as part of a consolidation with the inactivating Phoenix Air Defense Sector.
• Recently, private development on the former base has helped turn the basically unused land into jobs and revenue for the city of San Bernardino as several companies have opened distribution centers on the property.
• On 1 March 1942, the airport was renamed San Bernardino Army Air Field and the San Bernardino Air Depot was established there.
• In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
• The furthest airport from Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,447 miles (18,423 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• Norton Air Force Base was a United States Air Force facility located 2 miles east of downtown San Bernardino, California in San Bernardino County.
• The closest airport to Norton Air Force Base (SBD) is San Bernardino International Airport (SBT), which is located only 0 mile (0 kilometer) S of SBD.
• In 1950, Air Defense Command activated the 27th Air Division at Norton AFB, being assigned to the Western Air Defense Force.
• A change of mission in 1966 from Air Force Logistics Command to Military Airlift Command meant that Norton became one of six Military Airlift Command strategic-airlift bases, supporting US Army and Marine Corps' airlift requirements among other functions.
• Discrete C-130 Hercules modification tests were conducted out of Area II of the base in the late 1960s, with the 1198th Operational Evaluation and Training Squadron operating four highly classified C-130E special operations testbeds modified at Lockheed Air Services, at near-by Ontario Airport under projects Thin Slice and Heavy Chain.