Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Douglas, Arizona, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Douglas Municipal Airport (DGL), Douglas, Arizona, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,260 miles (or 8,466 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 RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Douglas Municipal 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 RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Douglas Municipal 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 RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH):

• In the spring of 1938, the Air Ministry acquired about 150 acres of open meadowland at Alconbury Hill, Huntingdonshire, expressly for use as a satellite airfield.
• The closest airport to RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Cambridge International Airport (CBG), which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) ESE of AYH.
• The host unit at RAF Alconbury is the 423rd Air Base Group which supplies host unit services for Alconbury as well as RAF Molesworth.
• In addition, two underground gasoline storage facilities, with a total capacity of 216,000 gallons were situated at points adjacent to the perimeter track, but at some distance from the explosive storage area.
• This was the time of the Blitz, when many parts of Britain were being subjected to an almost nightly series of heavy air raids.
• The furthest airport from RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,821 miles (19,024 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Satellite bases were considered one answer to this threat – a landing ground within reasonable road travel distance of the parent airfield to which aircraft could be diverted if the home station was bombed or likely to be attacked.
• Squadrons 15 and 40 converted from Battles to Bristol Blenheim bombers, but did not take part in bombing raids with the new type until the German Blitzkrieg was unleashed in May 1940.

Facts about Douglas Municipal Airport (DGL):

• The Air Training Command maintained the former Douglas Air Field on temporary inactive status starting on October 31, 1945.
• Because of Douglas Municipal Airport's high elevation of 4,173 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at DGL. Combined with a high temperature, this could make DGL a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Over recent years, there has been relatively little development activity at the Bisbee-Douglas International Airport.
• The closest airport to Douglas Municipal Airport (DGL) is Bisbee Douglas International Airport (DUG), which is located only 10 miles (17 kilometers) NNW of DGL.
• Douglas Municipal Airport (DGL) has 2 runways.
• In addition to being known as "Douglas Municipal Airport", another name for DGL is "Douglas Army Airfield".
• The furthest airport from Douglas Municipal Airport (DGL) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,522 miles (18,542 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The ranges included a machine gun range with 10 targets, a pistol range with 24 targets, and a skeet range with two units.