Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Jacksonville, Arkansas, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Little Rock Air Force Base (LRF), Jacksonville, Arkansas, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,389 miles (or 7,063 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 Little Rock 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 RAF Fairford and Little Rock 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 RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.

Facts about Little Rock Air Force Base (LRF):

• The furthest airport from Little Rock Air Force Base (LRF) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,887 miles (17,521 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• On 1 October 1986, the 189 ARG saw yet another mission change when it was redesignated as the 189th Tactical Airlift Group and converted to the C-130 aircraft, with transfer of operational claimancy to MAC.
• Construction of Little Rock Air Force Base began on 6 November 1953 and the base was officially activated by Strategic Air Command on 1 August 1955, hosting SAC's 384th Bombardment Wing flying the Boeing B-47E Stratojet and the 70th Reconnaissance Wing flying the RB-47 Stratojet and KC-97 Stratotanker.
• In addition to being known as "Little Rock Air Force Base", another name for LRF is "Little Rock AFB".
• Little Rock Air Force Base is the home of the 19th Airlift Wing, the host unit.
• The closest airport to Little Rock Air Force Base (LRF) is Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport (LIT), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) SSW of LRF.
• On 1 January 1976, the 189 TRG transferred being a TAC-gained unit to a SAC-gained unit when it converted to the KC-135 Stratotanker and was redesignated the 189th Air Refueling Group, becoming one of the first Air National Guard units to be assigned to Strategic Air Command with a concomitant requirement to maintain a 24-hour alert force at Little Rock as well as deployments to support worldwide tanker task forces.