Nonstop flight route between Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom and Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport (YDN), Dauphin, Manitoba, Canada would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,891 miles (or 6,262 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 Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC 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 Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC 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.
• 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.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• KC-135 and KC-10 tankers deployed to Fairford supported Operation El Dorado Canyon against Libya in 1986.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport (YDN):

• The furthest airport from Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport (YDN) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,320 miles (16,608 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport (YDN) has 3 runways.
• The closest airport to Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport (YDN) is Brandon Municipal Airport (YBR), which is located 82 miles (133 kilometers) S of YDN.
• Because of Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport's relatively low elevation of 999 feet, planes can take off or land at Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC 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.
• In addition to being known as "Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport", another name for YDN is "Dauphin (Lt. Col W.G. (Billy) Barker, VC Airport)".