Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 January 24

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January 24

Azad Hind

I was reading our article about Azad Hind and I wondered what was the projected territorial extension of their version(s) of Independent India. Was it to encompass all of British Raj, comprehensive of the newly created State of Burma? What about Sri Lanka/Ceylon? Were Nepal and Bhutan ever considered? Thanks! --151.41.173.96 (talk) 13:00, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

The Japanese sponsored another anti-British force in Burma called the Burma National Army, so I expect it would have caused something of a conflict if Azad Hind had tried to stake a claim there. Alansplodge (talk) 17:47, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

There is a set of Azad Hind stamps, printed in Germany during WW2. Two values feature a map of their intended state, which clearly does not include either Burma or Nepal. The lack of a land boundary, and rather ambiguous shading towards the edge of the design, makes it harder to say if Ceylon was intended to be part of the territory. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.131.178.47 (talk) 10:45, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

NYC–Tokyo flight route

According to Google Maps, the great-circle distance from New York to Tokyo is about 6,700 miles (10,800 km). This arc heads NNW out of New York and almost reaches Prudhoe Bay, skirting the Beaufort Sea. Do non-stop airliners fly this route? Has anyone reading this ever flown the route and seen the Beaufort Sea out the window? ―Mandruss ☎ 14:44, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

I don't know but as an aside, you might be interested in Polar route. Dismas|^(talk) 15:09, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

http://www.flightradar24.com is a web site that displays the actual routes taken by many airline flights, if the airplane carries an ADS-B transponder. If you search for a particular flight number (say, JL 3 or JL 4) it will display a list of dates and if you select one of the dates in the past then it will show where that flight went. I tried a few dates, looking at both eastbound and westbound flights, and in every case the route was well south of the great circle. From the routes I saw, I would conjecture that they choose routes that do not pass over Russia; perhaps the Russians don't allow such overflights. --76.69.45.64 (talk) 05:37, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, I noticed later that the arc passed right down the middle of Kamchatka, and I thought of KAL 007. Thanks for the info. ―Mandruss ☎ 07:27, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Such flights can and do take a great circle route way up there to the north but sometimes they take a more southerly route. I suspect the jetstream makes a big difference because it's best to fly along it or across it and not against it. Flightradar is a great app and website by the way! Flights between the US west coast and Dubai often take the great circle route over the pole but sometimes go much further south. Thincat (talk) 17:21, 26 January 2016 (UTC)