Nonstop flight route between El Paso, Texas, United States and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between El Paso International Airport (ELP), El Paso, Texas, United States and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 871 miles (or 1,402 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 El Paso International Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about El Paso International Airport (ELP):

• The closest airport to El Paso International Airport (ELP) is Biggs Army Airfield (BIF), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) N of ELP.
• What became El Paso International Airport was built as Standard Airport by Standard Airlines in 1929 for transcontinental air mail service.
• The Airport access road is Convair Road.
• The passenger concourses were built in 1971 as part of an expansion that tripled the size of the airport.
• El Paso International Airport (ELP) has 3 runways.
• During World War II, the airport was a United States Army Air Forces training base.
• In 1934, Varney Speed Lines operated at the old El Paso Municipal Airport.
• El Paso International Airport handled 3,065,393 passengers last year.
• The terminal is a pier-satellite layout.
• The furthest airport from El Paso International Airport (ELP) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,389 miles (18,329 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• The mission of the 28th Bomb Wing is to deliver decisive combat power for global response.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• On 2 January 1942, the U.S.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• To provide air defense of the base, the United States Army established the Ellsworth AFB Defense Area in 1957 and constructed Nike-Ajax Surface-to-air missile sites for air defense.
• The closest airport to Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) S of RCA.
• The airfield was again temporarily shut down from September 1946 – March 1947 and underwent a major construction program to upgrade the temporary wartime facilities to that of a permanent base.
• After the Army closed their facilities, the military housing at the Nike Integrated Fire Control sites was transferred to control of Ellsworth, and was used as Air Force military family housing until about 1990.
• The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• The furthest airport from Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,579 miles (17,026 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command's Twelfth Air Force.