Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Jiayuguan, Gansu, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Jiayuguan Airport (JGN), Jiayuguan, Gansu, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,425 miles (or 7,121 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 Jiayuguan 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 Jiayuguan 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 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.
• RAF Alconbury is about 0.308 sq mi in area.
• The construction attracted the attention of the Luftwaffe as the flying field of RAF Alconbury was attacked by German bombers on 16 September 1940, although no serious damage was done.
• 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.
• The closest airport to RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Cambridge International Airport (CBG), which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) ESE of AYH.
• During this period, RAF Alconbury consisted of a few wooden huts but plans were made to provide both refuelling and rearmament facilities.

Facts about Jiayuguan Airport (JGN):

• The closest airport to Jiayuguan Airport (JGN) is Zhangye Ganzhou Airport (YZY), which is located 144 miles (232 kilometers) ESE of JGN.
• Jiayuguan Airport (JGN) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Jiayuguan Airport (JGN) is Pupelde Airfield (ZUD), which is nearly antipodal to Jiayuguan Airport (meaning Jiayuguan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Pupelde Airfield), and is located 12,003 miles (19,316 kilometers) away in Ancud, Los Lagos Region, Chile.
• In addition to being known as "Jiayuguan Airport", other names for JGN include "嘉峪关机场" and "Jiāyùguān Jīchǎng".
• Because of Jiayuguan Airport's high elevation of 5,112 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at JGN. Combined with a high temperature, this could make JGN a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.