Nonstop flight route between Tacoma, Washington, United States and Bury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from GRF to BEQ:
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- About this route
- GRF Airport Information
- BEQ Airport Information
- Facts about GRF
- Facts about BEQ
- Map of Nearest Airports to GRF
- List of Nearest Airports to GRF
- Map of Furthest Airports from GRF
- List of Furthest Airports from GRF
- Map of Nearest Airports to BEQ
- List of Nearest Airports to BEQ
- Map of Furthest Airports from BEQ
- List of Furthest Airports from BEQ
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Gray Army Airfield (GRF), Tacoma, Washington, United States and RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ), Bury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,799 miles (or 7,723 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 Gray Army Airfield and RAF Honington USAAF Station 375, 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 Gray Army Airfield and RAF Honington USAAF Station 375. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | GRF / KGRF |
Airport Names: |
|
Location: | Tacoma, Washington, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 47°4'45"N by 122°34'50"W |
Operator/Owner: | U.S. Army ATCA-ASO |
Airport Type: | Military |
Elevation: | 300 feet (91 meters) |
# of Runways: | 1 |
View all routes: | Routes from GRF |
More Information: | GRF Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | BEQ / EGXH |
Airport Name: | RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 |
Location: | Bury St. Edmunds, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 52°20'33"N by 0°46'23"E |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from BEQ |
More Information: | BEQ Maps & Info |
Facts about Gray Army Airfield (GRF):
- Reactivated following service in Vietnam, the 9th Infantry Division aviation units occupied GAAF in 1972.
- The closest airport to Gray Army Airfield (GRF) is McChord Field/McChord AFB (TCM), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NE of GRF.
- In October 1921 Curtiss JN-4 “Jenny” biplanes flew from the Naval Station at Sand Point to a grass airfield at what was then called "Camp Lewis", located at a site just west of today’s Gray AAF.
- The furthest airport from Gray Army Airfield (GRF) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,809 miles (17,395 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
- During the Korean War, GAAF continued in the role as a training and division support field.
- The 1938 construction included two paved runways, a boiler plant, headquarters building, metal balloon hangar, six-plane hangar, corrugated-iron hangar, storehouse, flight-surgeon office, and film-storage building.
- The field is named in honor of Captain Lawrence C.
- GAAF units have served in Iraq with Company A, 5th Battalion, 159th Aviation Regiment, returning from a 15 month deployment on April 17, 2004.
- Used to support Fort Lewis, Army helicopters assisted with medical evacuations at Mount Rainier National Park on numerous occasions in the 1970s.
- Because of Gray Army Airfield's relatively low elevation of 300 feet, planes can take off or land at Gray Army Airfield 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.
- With World War II, Gray Army Airfield received 1.7 million dollars for new hangars and improved facilities.
- In addition to being known as "Gray Army Airfield", another name for GRF is "(Joint Base Lewis-McChord)".
- Gray Army Airfield (GRF) currently has only 1 runway.
Facts about RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ):
- IX Squadron flew the first RAF bombing raid of the Second World War on 4 September 1939 flying a mission against the Kriegsmarine in the Baltic resulting in the loss of two Wellingtons.
- RAF Honington is also now home to 611 Volunteer Gliding Squadron due to the closure of RAF Watton in April 2012, requiring their conversion to the Grob 109B Vigilant motor glider.
- Then, in May of that year, a Wellington returning from a night trip attempted to land at Honington with its wheels retracted.
- Besides the air depot, Honington also housed an operational fighter unit when the 364th Fighter Group took up residence at Honington in February 1944, arriving from Santa Maria AAF, California.
- The closest airport to RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ) is RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) WNW of BEQ.
- Honington was the last USAAF station to be returned to the RAF.
- The furthest airport from RAF Honington USAAF Station 375 (BEQ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,834 miles (19,044 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.