Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Lerwick, Scotland, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Tingwall Airport (LWK), Lerwick, Scotland, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 542 miles (or 873 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 relatively short distance between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 and Tingwall Airport, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH):

• RAF Alconbury is also the home of the 501st Combat Support Wing.
• The host unit at RAF Alconbury is the 423rd Air Base Group which supplies host unit services for Alconbury as well as RAF Molesworth.
• 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.
• This was the time of the Blitz, when many parts of Britain were being subjected to an almost nightly series of heavy air raids.
• At one frying-pan-shaped hardstand on the north side of the airfield, an earth shooting-in butt was constructed.
• The 423 ABG command section and orderly room are located at Alconbury as are many of the support units and recreational facilities for the area.
• The technical site on the north-west side was expanded where a single T2 hangar was also erected.
• 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.

Facts about Tingwall Airport (LWK):

• The closest airport to Tingwall Airport (LWK) is Scatsta Airport (SCS), which is located only 17 miles (27 kilometers) N of LWK.
• In addition to being known as "Tingwall Airport", another name for LWK is "Lerwick/Tingwall Airport".
• Tingwall Airport handled 5,059 passengers last year.
• Because of Tingwall Airport's relatively low elevation of 45 feet, planes can take off or land at Tingwall 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 furthest airport from Tingwall Airport (LWK) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,422 miles (18,383 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Tingwall Airport (LWK) currently has only 1 runway.