Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Gladwin, Michigan, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport (GDW), Gladwin, Michigan, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,663 miles (or 5,895 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 RAF Fairford and Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport, 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 RAF Fairford and Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport. 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 RAF Fairford (FFD):

• On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
• The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.

Facts about Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport (GDW):

• The airport is staffed from 9AM until 5PM.
• The closest airport to Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport (GDW) is Mount Pleasant Municipal Airport (MOP), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) SSW of GDW.
• Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport (GDW) has 2 runways.
• Because of Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport's relatively low elevation of 774 feet, planes can take off or land at Gladwin Zettel Memorial 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 furthest airport from Gladwin Zettel Memorial Airport (GDW) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,182 miles (17,995 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.