Nonstop flight route between Bamenda, Cameroon and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Bamenda Airport (BPC), Bamenda, Cameroon and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,250 miles (or 5,230 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 Bamenda Airport and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Bamenda Airport and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Bamenda Airport (BPC):

• The closest airport to Bamenda Airport (BPC) is Bali Airport (BAJ), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) SSW of BPC.
• Because of Bamenda Airport's high elevation of 4,065 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at BPC. Combined with a high temperature, this could make BPC a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• The furthest airport from Bamenda Airport (BPC) is Canton Island Airport (CIS), which is nearly antipodal to Bamenda Airport (meaning Bamenda Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Canton Island Airport), and is located 12,178 miles (19,599 kilometers) away in Canton Island, Kiribati.
• Bamenda Airport (BPC) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath, is a Royal Air Force station near the town of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England located 4.7 miles north-east of Mildenhall, Suffolk and 8.3 miles west of Thetford, Norfolk.
• Control of RAF Lakenheath was allocated to Third Air Force at South Ruislip Air Station, which had command of SAC B-29 operations in England.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• Aircraft of the 48th FW carry the tail code "LN".
• By 1950, Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S.
• Lakenheath Airfield was used by RAF flying units on detachment late in 1941.
• The increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evaluation of these deployments, and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move its heavy bomb groups further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford, while its shorter-range B-47 were sent to East Anglia.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.