Nonstop flight route between Dijon, France and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Dijon Air Base (DIJ), Dijon, France and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 478 miles (or 769 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 Dijon Air Base and MoD St Athan, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Dijon Air Base (DIJ):

• In addition to being known as "Dijon Air Base", another name for DIJ is "(Advanced Landing Ground Y-9)".
• While under Luftwaffe control, Dijon Air Base was attacked by the United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force heavy B-17 Flying Fortress groups on several occasions in 1944.
• In 1984, the Dassault Mirage 2000C arrived, upgraded in 1999 by the 2000-5F., contributing to a modern, front-line NATO facility.
• Dijon Air Base is one of the oldest of the Armée de l'Air, being established in 1914, having origins beginning in September 1910 as a civilian aerodrome.
• The closest airport to Dijon Air Base (DIJ) is Dole - Jura Airport (DLE), which is located 23 miles (37 kilometers) SE of DIJ.
• Dijon Air Base (DIJ) has 2 runways.
• The war had left the airbase that genuine ruins littered with rubble, debris, scrap metal and charred remains of airplanes.
• Because of Dijon Air Base's relatively low elevation of 726 feet, planes can take off or land at Dijon Air Base 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 Dijon Air Base (DIJ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Dijon Air Base (meaning Dijon Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,186 miles (19,612 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

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.
• The station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.
• 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.
• 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.
• In March 2004, however, DARA announced the loss of 550 jobs at St Athan as part of streamlining to make DARA more efficient and better able to compete with the private sector for lucrative aircraft repair contracts, but also because they lost out to a direct RAF bid for a contract to upgrade the air force's fleet of ageing Harrier jump jet aircraft.
• The last aircraft to be serviced at St Athan, a Vickers VC10, departed the site on 23 February 2012.