Nonstop flight route between Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Hickory, North Carolina, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Benson (BEX), Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom and Hickory Regional Airport (HKY), Hickory, North Carolina, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,947 miles (or 6,352 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 Benson and Hickory Regional 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 Benson and Hickory Regional 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 Benson (BEX):

• The Chiltern Air Support Unit helicopter and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance helicopter are also both located here as lodger units.
• The future of RAF Benson was in doubt for some time, while Project Belvedere was looking into closing at least one of Joint Helicopter Command's airfields.
• The furthest airport from RAF Benson (BEX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,879 miles (19,118 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The King's Flight moved from RAF Hendon and would stay until after the war, moving to RAF Northolt in 1995.
• The closest airport to RAF Benson (BEX) is RAF High Wycombe (HYC), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) ENE of BEX.
• The station retained a reconnaissance role for some years after the war, with Avro Lancaster, Spitfire, Mosquito, Gloster Meteor PR.Mk 10 and English Electric Canberra PR.Mk 3 aircraft.

Facts about Hickory Regional Airport (HKY):

• Hickory Regional Airport is a public airport located three miles west of the central business district of Hickory, a city in Catawba County, North Carolina, United States.
• Hickory Regional Airport (HKY) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Hickory Regional Airport (HKY) is Foothills Regional Airport (MRN), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) WNW of HKY.
• Shortly thereafter, the runway which came to be designated 6/24 was lengthened and both of the existing runways were paved.
• In the early part of 1969, a new High Intensity Lighting system was installed on runway 6/24 as well as lighting on the parallel taxiway.
• The airport has an operating control tower from 7:00am to 9:00pm daily for safety and sequencing of aircraft landing and departing.
• After the airline deregulation of the late 1970s, the nature of commercial service would change for Hickory.
• The furthest airport from Hickory Regional Airport (HKY) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,494 miles (18,499 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• On August 2, 1941, Pennsylvania Central Airlines which later became Capital Airlines, brought the first scheduled air-carrier service to Hickory.