Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and San Bernardino, California, United States:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from WAL to SBD:
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- About this route
- WAL Airport Information
- SBD Airport Information
- Facts about WAL
- Facts about SBD
- Map of Nearest Airports to WAL
- List of Nearest Airports to WAL
- Map of Furthest Airports from WAL
- List of Furthest Airports from WAL
- Map of Nearest Airports to SBD
- List of Nearest Airports to SBD
- Map of Furthest Airports from SBD
- List of Furthest Airports from SBD
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Norton Air Force Base (SBD), San Bernardino, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 2,330 miles (or 3,749 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 Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Norton Air Force Base, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | WAL / KWAL |
Airport Name: | Wallops Flight Facility Airport |
Location: | Wallops Island, Virginia, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 37°56'24"N by 75°27'59"W |
Elevation: | 0 feet (0 meters) |
View all routes: | Routes from WAL |
More Information: | WAL Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | SBD / |
Airport Names: |
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Location: | San Bernardino, California, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 34°5'43"N by 117°14'5"W |
View all routes: | Routes from SBD |
More Information: | SBD Maps & Info |
Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):
- Because of Wallops Flight Facility Airport's relatively low elevation of 0 feet, planes can take off or land at Wallops Flight Facility 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 1959, NASA acquired the former Naval Air Station Chincoteague, and engineering and administrative activities were moved to this location.
- The furthest airport from Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,785 miles (18,965 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
- The Wallops Visitor Center has a variety of hands-on exhibits and hosts weekly educational activities and programs to enable children to explore and learn about the technologies designed and used by NASA researchers and scientists.
- Since 2001, engineers at NASA Wallops Flight Facility have been developing new range technologies, systems and approaches to improve the cost and responsiveness of launch and flight test activities, within the constraints of available funding and program schedules.
- The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
- Major Wallops facilities include FAA-certified runways.
- In 1945, NASA's predecessor agency, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, established a rocket launch site on Wallops Island under the direction of the Langley Research Center.
Facts about Norton Air Force Base (SBD):
- 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.
- 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.
- For the majority of its operational lifetime, Norton was a logistics depot and heavy-lift transport facility for a variety of military aircraft, equipment and supplies as part of Air Materiel/Air Force Logistics Command, then as part of Military Airlift/Air Mobility Command.
- In addition to being known as "Norton Air Force Base", another name for SBD is "Norton AFB".
- The closure was cited as due to environmental wastes, inadequate facilities, and air traffic congestion west, and Los Angeles International Airport, 60 miles west).
- 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.
- During World War II, San Bernardino Army Airfield provided administrative and logistical support for the United States Army Desert Training Center.