Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Roswell, New Mexico, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Roswell International Air Center (ROW), Roswell, New Mexico, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,976 miles (or 8,008 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 Roswell International Air Center, 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 Roswell International Air Center. 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):

• The technical site on the north-west side was expanded where a single T2 hangar was also erected.
• The closest airport to RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH) is Cambridge International Airport (CBG), which is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) ESE of AYH.
• Opened in 1938, it is currently a non-flying facility under the control of the United States Air Force.
• 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.
• A total of 67 bombers had been lost in RAF Bomber Command operations flown from Alconbury, eight were Blenheims and 59 Wellingtons.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Roswell International Air Center (ROW):

• From 1941 to 1967, the facility was known as Roswell Army International Airfield during World War II, and Walker Air Force Base during the Cold War.
• The Boeing Company uses RIAC for braking performance testing of its aircraft, most recent was the testing of the BF Goodrich carbon brakes on the 737-900ER model.
• Roswell International Air Center (ROW) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Roswell International Air Center (ROW) is Artesia Municipal Airport (ATS), which is located 31 miles (50 kilometers) S of ROW.
• The site was used for several years to launch stratospheric balloons for Air Force projects.
• The furthest airport from Roswell International Air Center (ROW) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,241 miles (18,090 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Historically, Roswell was served by Trans-Texas Airways which flew Douglas DC-9-10 jet service to Albuquerque, Dallas, Houston, Midland/Odessa and Santa Fe.
• It is also known for the Roswell UFO incident, an event that supposedly happened on July 4, 1947.