Nonstop flight route between Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wake Island Airfield (AWK), Wake Island, United States Minor Outlying Islands and Tamale Airport (TML), Tamale, Northern Region, Ghana would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,270 miles (or 16,528 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 Wake Island Airfield and Tamale Airport, 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 Wake Island Airfield and Tamale Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Wake Island Airfield (AWK):

• The first intention to build an air base surfaced in 1935, when Pan American World Airways selected Wake Island as an intermediate support base for their routes to the Far East, especially the Philippines.
• Wake Island Airfield (AWK) currently has only 1 runway.
• From 1935 until 1940, when two typhoons swept Wake with resultant extensive damage to the now elaborately developed Pan American facilities, development and use of the base were steady but uneventful.
• Japan Airlines used both Wake Island and Honolulu as stops on its initial Tokyo-San Francisco service using Douglas DC-6s in the mid-1950s.
• Between 5 and 29 May 1935, Pan American's air base construction vessel, North Haven, landed supplies and equipment on Wilkes Island for eventual rehandling to Peale Island which, because of its more suitable soil and geology, had been selected as site for the PAA seaplane base.
• Because of Wake Island Airfield's relatively low elevation of 23 feet, planes can take off or land at Wake Island 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.
• The furthest airport from Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is RAF Ascension (ASI), which is located 11,652 miles (18,752 kilometers) away in Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena.
• The closest airport to Wake Island Airfield (AWK) is Quoin Hill Airfield (UIQ), which is located 169 miles (272 kilometers) SE of AWK.
• British Overseas Airways Corporation also used Wake Island as a refueling stop.

Facts about Tamale Airport (TML):

• Tamale Airport (TML) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Tamale Airport (TML) is Zabré Airport (XZA), which is located 112 miles (181 kilometers) N of TML.
• Initially the Airport was manned by the Airforce and used for strategic activities during the regime of Dr Nkrumah.
• The furthest airport from Tamale Airport (TML) is Funafuti International Airport (FUN), which is nearly antipodal to Tamale Airport (meaning Tamale Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Funafuti International Airport), and is located 12,365 miles (19,900 kilometers) away in Funafuti, Tuvalu.
• Because of Tamale Airport's relatively low elevation of 553 feet, planes can take off or land at Tamale 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.