Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and União da Vitória, Paraná, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and José Cleto Airport (QVB), União da Vitória, Paraná, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 6,155 miles (or 9,905 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 José Cleto 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 José Cleto 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):

• 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 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.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• On 12 May 2005, USAFE activated the 501st Combat Support Wing, with headquarters at RAF Alconbury, to provide support to its GSUs in the United Kingdom.
• 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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.

Facts about José Cleto Airport (QVB):

• The furthest airport from José Cleto Airport (QVB) is Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō (DNA), which is nearly antipodal to José Cleto Airport (meaning José Cleto Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Kadena Air Base 嘉手納飛行場 Kadena Hikōjō), and is located 12,364 miles (19,898 kilometers) away in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan.
• José Cleto Airport (QVB) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to José Cleto Airport (QVB) is Carlos Alberto da Costa Neves Airport (CFC), which is located 39 miles (63 kilometers) SSE of QVB.
• Today the airport is dedicated to general aviation.
• In addition to being known as "José Cleto Airport", another name for QVB is "Aeroporto José Cleto".
• José Cleto Airport handled 333 passengers last year.
• On March 1, 1915, during his second flight, the one in which he would start destroying villages and other settlements, he crashed in a forest 44 km from União da Vitória while attempting an emergency landing.