Nonstop flight route between Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Darwin International Airport (DRW), Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,552 miles (or 13,762 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 Darwin International 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 Darwin International 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 Darwin International Airport (DRW):

• The furthest airport from Darwin International Airport (DRW) is Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY), which is located 11,867 miles (19,099 kilometers) away in Cayenne, French Guiana.
• Darwin International Airport handled 1,743,734 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Darwin International Airport", another name for DRW is "RAAF Base Darwin".
• During 2008–09 financial year a total of 1,538,938 passengers passed through Darwin International Airport which consisted of 188,530 international passengers and 1,350,408 domestic passengers.
• Because of Darwin International Airport's relatively low elevation of 103 feet, planes can take off or land at Darwin International 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 head office of Airnorth is on the airport property.
• Darwin International Airport (DRW) has 2 runways.
• In 1919, when the England to Australia air race was announced, Parap Airfield was established in the suburb of Parap to act as the Australian Terminal.
• The closest airport to Darwin International Airport (DRW) is Bathurst Island Airport (BRT), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) NNW of DRW.
• Until they were withdrawn from service, Concorde made sporadic visits to Darwin as well, having one of the few runways long enough in Australia to handle them.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of 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.
• In addition to supporting three combat-ready squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle and F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft, the Liberty Wing houses the 56th Rescue Squadron's HH-60G Combat Search and Rescue helicopters.
• The 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath is the Statue of Liberty Wing, the only USAF wing with both a number and a name.
• The reason for the departure of the two bomber squadrons was Lakenheath's selection for upgrading to a Very Heavy Bomber airfield.
• 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.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.