Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Ottumwa, Iowa, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Ottumwa Regional Airport (OTM), Ottumwa, Iowa, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,098 miles (or 6,594 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 Ottumwa Regional 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 Ottumwa Regional 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):

• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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 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.
• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.

Facts about Ottumwa Regional Airport (OTM):

• Because of Ottumwa Regional Airport's relatively low elevation of 845 feet, planes can take off or land at Ottumwa Regional 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 Ottumwa Regional Airport (OTM) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,856 miles (17,470 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The closest airport to Ottumwa Regional Airport (OTM) is Fairfield Municipal Airport (FFL), which is located 25 miles (40 kilometers) E of OTM.
• On May 20, 1947 the U.S Secretary of the Navy ordered that the U.S.
• Ottumwa Regional Airport (OTM) has 2 runways.
• In December, 1947, Central States Airlines began commercial air service to Ottumwa.
• In 2002, the City of Ottumwa, in conjunction with the Federal Aviation Administration constructed a new terminal at the airport, replacing the World War II-era operations building that had served as the terminal.
• For the 12-month period ending June 4, 2009, the airport had 16,450 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 45 per day.
• Among the thousands of Navy personnel who served at the base was Richard M.