Nonstop flight route between St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Mountain Home, Idaho, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom and Mountain Home Air Force Base (MUO), Mountain Home, Idaho, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,763 miles (or 7,665 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 MoD St Athan and Mountain Home Air Force Base, 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 MoD St Athan and Mountain Home Air Force Base. 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 MoD St Athan (DGX):

• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• MOD St Athan is a large Ministry of Defence unit near the village of St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan, southern Wales.
• The furthest airport from MoD St Athan (DGX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,960 miles (19,248 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The training to be carried out at St Athan was to be specialist phase 2 and phase 3 engineering courses of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.
• In March 2003 it was confirmed that a new hi-tech maintenance centre would be built, creating 3,300 jobs.
• During the war a dummy airfield was built using wood and cardboard a few miles west of the original airfield and successful efforts were made to hide the proper field.
• Because of MoD St Athan's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at MoD St Athan 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.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Mountain Home Air Force Base (MUO):

• Operations continued unchanged for several years.
• SAC moved its 9th Bombardment Wing to the base and began flying B-29 bombers and KB-29H refueling aircraft.
• The furthest airport from Mountain Home Air Force Base (MUO) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 10,858 miles (17,474 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.
• The closest airport to Mountain Home Air Force Base (MUO) is Boise Airport (BOI), which is located 40 miles (64 kilometers) NNW of MUO.
• In November 1965 TAC began to activate elements of its new 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Mountain Home, formally activating the wing on 1 January 1966.
• Instead of training B-17 crews, Mountain Home airmen began training crews for the B-24 Liberator.
• In addition to being known as "Mountain Home Air Force Base", another name for MUO is "Mountain Home AFB".
• Mountain Home's first operational USAF unit was the Strategic Air Command 5th Strategic Reconnaissance Group which was reassigned from Clark Field in the Philippines, being assigned on 26 May 1949.
• The pending assignment of the new RB-36 Peacemaker to the 5th SRW, along with the inadequacy of its World War II facilities to support the large aircraft led SAC to move the 5th SRW to Fairfield-Suisun AFB, California on 9 November 1949.