Nonstop flight route between Francistown, Botswana and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from FRW to FFD:
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- About this route
- FRW Airport Information
- FFD Airport Information
- Facts about FRW
- Facts about FFD
- Map of Nearest Airports to FRW
- List of Nearest Airports to FRW
- Map of Furthest Airports from FRW
- List of Furthest Airports from FRW
- Map of Nearest Airports to FFD
- List of Nearest Airports to FFD
- Map of Furthest Airports from FFD
- List of Furthest Airports from FFD
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base (FRW), Francistown, Botswana and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,335 miles (or 8,586 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 Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base and RAF Fairford, 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 Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base and RAF Fairford. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | FRW / FBFT |
| Airport Names: |
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| Location: | Francistown, Botswana |
| GPS Coordinates: | 21°9'33"S by 27°28'27"E |
| Operator/Owner: | Botswana Defence Force/Botswana CAA |
| Airport Type: | Public/Military |
| Elevation: | 3283 feet (1,001 meters) |
| # of Runways: | 2 |
| View all routes: | Routes from FRW |
| More Information: | FRW Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
| IATA / ICAO Codes: | FFD / EGVA |
| Airport Name: | RAF Fairford |
| Location: | Fairford, England, United Kingdom |
| GPS Coordinates: | 51°40'55"N by 1°47'24"W |
| Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
| View all routes: | Routes from FFD |
| More Information: | FFD Maps & Info |
Facts about Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base (FRW):
- Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base (FRW) has 2 runways.
- The closest airport to Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base (FRW) is Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport (BUQ), which is located 108 miles (174 kilometers) NE of FRW.
- The furthest airport from Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base (FRW) is Hilo International Airport (ITO), which is nearly antipodal to Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base (meaning Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Hilo International Airport), and is located 12,246 miles (19,707 kilometers) away in Hilo, Hawaii, United States.
- In addition to being known as "Francistown International Airport/Francistown Air Base", another name for FRW is "FBFT [1]".
- Two new runways are being added as well as the renovations of the current ones.
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.
- RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
