Nonstop flight route between Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory, Australia and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Groote Eylandt Airport (GTE), Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory, Australia and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,848 miles (or 14,240 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 Groote Eylandt 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 Groote Eylandt 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 Groote Eylandt Airport (GTE):

• Groote Eylandt Airport (GTE) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Groote Eylandt Airport's relatively low elevation of 53 feet, planes can take off or land at Groote Eylandt 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 closest airport to Groote Eylandt Airport (GTE) is Lake Evella Airport (LEL), which is located 111 miles (179 kilometers) NNW of GTE.
• The furthest airport from Groote Eylandt Airport (GTE) is Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport (CAY), which is located 11,564 miles (18,611 kilometers) away in Cayenne, French Guiana.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• 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.
• Following French president Charles de Gaulle's insistence in 1959 that all non-French nuclear-capable forces should be withdrawn from his country, the USAF began a redeployment of its North American F-100-equipped units from France.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• Control of RAF Lakenheath was allocated to Third Air Force at South Ruislip Air Station, which had command of SAC B-29 operations in England.
• 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.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.