Nonstop flight route between Alton, Illinois, United States and Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from ALN to BEX:
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- About this route
- ALN Airport Information
- BEX Airport Information
- Facts about ALN
- Facts about BEX
- Map of Nearest Airports to ALN
- List of Nearest Airports to ALN
- Map of Furthest Airports from ALN
- List of Furthest Airports from ALN
- Map of Nearest Airports to BEX
- List of Nearest Airports to BEX
- Map of Furthest Airports from BEX
- List of Furthest Airports from BEX
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN), Alton, Illinois, United States and RAF Benson (BEX), Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,141 miles (or 6,664 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 St. Louis Regional Airport and RAF Benson, 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 St. Louis Regional Airport and RAF Benson. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | ALN / KALN |
Airport Name: | St. Louis Regional Airport |
Location: | Alton, Illinois, United States |
GPS Coordinates: | 38°53'25"N by 90°2'45"W |
Area Served: | Alton, Illinois |
Operator/Owner: | St. Louis Regional |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 544 feet (166 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from ALN |
More Information: | ALN Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | BEX / EGUB |
Airport Name: | RAF Benson |
Location: | Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 51°36'59"N by 1°5'44"W |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from BEX |
More Information: | BEX Maps & Info |
Facts about St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN):
- Civic Memorial Airport opened in 1946 and received its current name in 1984.
- St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN) has 2 runways.
- The furthest airport from St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,002 miles (17,706 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
- Because of St. Louis Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 544 feet, planes can take off or land at St. Louis Regional 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.
- The 2,250 acres airfield sits at 544 ft MSL.
- The closest airport to St. Louis Regional Airport (ALN) is Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL), which is located only 20 miles (32 kilometers) WSW of ALN.
- Today a fair amount of air traffic and the Direct TV blimp comes for Cardinals playoffs, as Lambert's airport cannot take the blimp.
Facts about RAF Benson (BEX):
- The Chiltern Air Support Unit helicopter and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance helicopter are also both located here as lodger units.
- The station retained a reconnaissance role for some years after the war, with Avro Lancaster, Spitfire, Mosquito, Gloster Meteor PR.Mk 10 and English Electric Canberra PR.Mk 3 aircraft.
- The furthest airport from RAF Benson (BEX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,879 miles (19,118 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
- Its Supermarine Spitfire and de Havilland Mosquito aircraft flew missions over occupied Europe, for example bringing back battle damage assessment pictures after Operation Chastise.
- The closest airport to RAF Benson (BEX) is RAF High Wycombe (HYC), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) ENE of BEX.