Nonstop flight route between Wrightstown, New Jersey, United States and Mmabatho, South Africa:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between McGuire AFB (WRI), Wrightstown, New Jersey, United States and Mafikeng Airport (MBD), Mmabatho, South Africa would travel a Great Circle distance of 7,853 miles (or 12,638 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 McGuire AFB and Mafikeng 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 McGuire AFB and Mafikeng 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 McGuire AFB (WRI):

• The 52d Fighter Wing, All Weather was assigned to the base, being moved from Mitchel Field, Long Island on 4 October 1949.
• The NYADS was reassigned from 26th AD on 1 April 1966 to First Air Force, until 30 September 1968 when both the sector was inactivated along with DC-01, when budget restrictions along with when technology advances allowed the Air Force to shut down many SAGE Data Centers.
• The Twin Mustangs of the 52d FW were replaced by the ADC 4709th Defense Wing on 1 February 1952.
• McGuire hosts the flying needs of its mission partners on JB MDL.
• The closest airport to McGuire AFB (WRI) is JB MDL Lakehurst (NEL), which is located only 13 miles (20 kilometers) E of WRI.
• The furthest airport from McGuire AFB (WRI) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,757 miles (18,921 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• McGuire Air Force Base was established as Fort Dix Airport in 1937 and first opened to military aircraft on 9 January 1941.
• In 1959, Air Defense Command deployed the CIM-10 Bomarc surface-to-air missile to McGuire AFB.
• In addition to being known as "McGuire AFB", another name for WRI is "McGuire AFB/JB MDL McGuire".
• The 305th Air Mobility Wing along with the 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force, 108th Air Refueling Wing, 621st Contingency Response Wing, and the 514th Air Mobility Wing, has supported every major type of air mobility mission over the past 15 years.
• The host unit at McGuire AFB is the 87th Air Base Wing, United States Air Force Expeditionary Center, AMC..

Facts about Mafikeng Airport (MBD):

• In addition to being known as "Mafikeng Airport", another name for MBD is "Mmabatho Airport".
• Mafikeng Airport (MBD) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Mafikeng Airport's high elevation of 4,181 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MBD. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MBD a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Mafikeng Airport (MBD) is Kalaupapa Airport (LUP), which is nearly antipodal to Mafikeng Airport (meaning Mafikeng Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Kalaupapa Airport), and is located 12,081 miles (19,443 kilometers) away in Kalaupapa, Hawaii, United States.
• The closest airport to Mafikeng Airport (MBD) is Lobatse Airport (LOQ), which is located 43 miles (70 kilometers) NNE of MBD.