Nonstop flight route between Montbéliard, France and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome (XMF), Montbéliard, France and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,796 miles (or 9,328 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 Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome and Edwards 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 Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome and Edwards 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 Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome (XMF):

• In addition to being known as "Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome", another name for XMF is "Aérodrome de Montbéliard - Courcelles".
• The closest airport to Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome (XMF) is EuroAirport Basel–Mulhouse–Freiburg (BSL), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) ENE of XMF.
• Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome (XMF) has 2 runways.
• The furthest airport from Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome (XMF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome (meaning Montbéliard - Courcelles Aerodrome is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,138 miles (19,535 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• In the spring of 1942, however, the immense volume of flight test already being conducted at Wright Field, in Ohio, was one of the factors driving a search for a new site where a "Top Secret" airplane could undergo tests.
• A water stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad since 1876, the site was largely unsettled until the early 20th century.
• With the arrival of the Bell Aircraft P-59 Airacomet jet fighter, the Mojave Desert station was chosen as a secluded site for testing this super-secret airplane.
• The closest airport to Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) NW of EDW.
• The furthest airport from Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,414 miles (18,369 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• There are a vast array of organizations at Edwards that do not fall under the 412th Test Wing.
• In December 1949, Muroc was renamed Edwards Air Force Base in honor of Captain Glen Edwards, who was killed a year earlier in the crash of the Northrop YB-49 Flying Wing.
• As with virtually all of the test programs conducted during the war years, most of the actual flight test work on the P-59 was conducted by the contractor.