Nonstop flight route between Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Zaragoza, Spain:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF AlconburyUSAAF Station 102 (AYH), Alconbury, England, United Kingdom and Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ), Zaragoza, Spain would travel a Great Circle distance of 740 miles (or 1,191 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 Zaragoza 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):

• During this period, RAF Alconbury consisted of a few wooden huts but plans were made to provide both refuelling and rearmament facilities.
• In October 1941 two of its flights with 16 Wellingtons were dispatched to operate from Malta, supposedly on an emergency detachment.
• 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.
• RAF Alconbury and RAF Molesworth are the last Second World War-era Eighth Air Force bases in Britain that are still actively in use and controlled by 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.
• At one frying-pan-shaped hardstand on the north side of the airfield, an earth shooting-in butt was constructed.
• This was the time of the Blitz, when many parts of Britain were being subjected to an almost nightly series of heavy air raids.

Facts about Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ):

• Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ) is Huesca–Pirineos Airport (HSK), which is located 47 miles (75 kilometers) NE of ZAZ.
• The construction work on Zaragoza Airport began in September 1954 with the enlargement and improvement of the existing Spanish Air Force Base located there.
• Because of Zaragoza Airport's relatively low elevation of 863 feet, planes can take off or land at Zaragoza 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 Zaragoza Airport (ZAZ) is Hood Aerodrome (MRO), which is nearly antipodal to Zaragoza Airport (meaning Zaragoza Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hood Aerodrome), and is located 12,258 miles (19,727 kilometers) away in Masterton, New Zealand.
• Zaragoza Airport is a commercial airport near Zaragoza, Spain.
• Zaragoza was chosen as a NASA Space Shuttle TAL site due to its long runway, which needs be longer than 7,500 feet, and its pleasant weather.
• In addition to being known as "Zaragoza Airport", another name for ZAZ is "Aeropuerto de Zaragoza".
• Zaragoza was one of three major USAF Cold War airbases in Spain, the others being Torrejón Air Base near Madrid and Morón Air Base near Seville.