Nonstop flight route between Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada and Tacoma, Washington, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between CFB Cold Lake (YOD), Cold Lake, Alberta, Canada and McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM), Tacoma, Washington, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 730 miles (or 1,175 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 relatively short distance between CFB Cold Lake and McChord Field/McChord AFB, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about CFB Cold Lake (YOD):

• In addition to its value as a training base, CFB Cold Lake's fighter/interceptor aircraft defend the western half of Canadian air space and together with aircraft from CFB Bagotville cover Canada's Arctic territory.
• The airport is classified as an airport of entry by NAV CANADA and is staffed by the Canada Border Services Agency.
• Non-military use of the CLAWR increased since the 1990s, and "will continue to grow as various sectors vie for access to airspace, land and resources in and around the range.Canadian Natural Resources Limited’s Primrose and Wolf Lake in situ oil sands project near Cold Lake, Alberta.
• Cold Lake also hosts NATO flight training operating from 15 Wing Moose Jaw, as well as 5 Wing Goose Bay.
• CFB Cold Lake (YOD) has 3 runways.
• In addition to being known as "CFB Cold Lake", another name for YOD is "Cold Lake/Group Captain R.W. McNair Airport".
• The furthest airport from CFB Cold Lake (YOD) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,097 miles (16,250 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to CFB Cold Lake (YOD) is Bonnyville Airport (YBY), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) WSW of YOD.
• Operations in the 1950s and early 1960s centered around training crews destined for the CF100 Canuck all weather interceptor which was in operational use in both Canada and Europe.
• Personnel arrived at Cold Lake on March 31, 1954, with operations at RCAF Station Cold Lake beginning that day.

Facts about McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM):

• Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the 17th Bombardment Group flew anti-submarine patrols off the west coast of the United States with the new North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
• The base was the location of the first of twenty-eight stations built by ADC as part of the permanent air defense radar network, and was the top-priority site for ADC radars.
• The closest airport to McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM) is Gray Army Airfield (GRF), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) SW of TCM.
• Part of Air Mobility Command
• The furthest airport from McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,803 miles (17,386 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• Because of McChord Field/McChord AFB's relatively low elevation of 322 feet, planes can take off or land at McChord Field/McChord AFB 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 1917, the citizens of Pierce County, Washington approved a bond measure for $2,000,000 to buy 70,000 acres of land to be donated to the Federal Government for use as a military reservation.
• McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "McChord Field/McChord AFB", another name for TCM is "Part of Air Mobility Command (AMC)".
• Starting in mid-1943 the training of B-17 and B-24 replacement crews began to be phased out, as the Second Air Force began ramping up training of B-29 Superfortress Very Heavy bomb groups, destined for Twentieth Air Force.
• During 1952 and 1953, the 62nd airlifted troops, blood plasma, aircraft parts, ammunition, medical supplies, and much more, to the Far East, in support of the war in Korea.