Nonstop flight route between Fort Sumner, New Mexico, United States and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU), Fort Sumner, New Mexico, United States and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,927 miles (or 7,929 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 Fort Sumner Municipal Airport and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Fort Sumner Municipal Airport and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU):

• The airport retains the large parking ramp from its training use.
• In addition to being known as "Fort Sumner Municipal Airport", another name for FSU is "Fort Sumner Army Airfield".
• The airfield was reopened in February 1941, and was rebuilt in 1942 by the United States Army Air Forces as a World War II training airfield.
• The closest airport to Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) is Cannon Air Force Base Clovis Air Force Base/AAF (CVS), which is located 51 miles (83 kilometers) E of FSU.
• For the 12-month period ending April 9, 2011, the airport had 150 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 12 per month.
• Because of Fort Sumner Municipal Airport's high elevation of 4,165 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at FSU. Combined with a high temperature, this could make FSU a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• On August 6, 1944, the airfield was transferred to Second Air Force, where it became a replacement facility for B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator crew training.
• The furthest airport from Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,167 miles (17,971 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Fort Sumner Municipal Airport (FSU) has 2 runways.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• By 1950, Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S.
• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evaluation of these deployments, and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move its heavy bomb groups further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford, while its shorter-range B-47 were sent to East Anglia.
• By the time construction ended the war with Germany was over and RAF Lakenheath was put on a care and maintenance status.
• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.
• Although an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.