Nonstop flight route between Hawker, South Australia, Australia and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wilpena Pound (HWK), Hawker, South Australia, Australia and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 10,007 miles (or 16,105 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 Wilpena Pound 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 Wilpena Pound and RAF Fairford. 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 Wilpena Pound (HWK):

• The name of the Pound, Wilpena, is reported to be Aboriginal, meaning "place of bent fingers".
• Wilpena Pound is a natural amphitheatre of mountains located 429 kilometres north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia in the heart of the Flinders Ranges National Park.
• When Price died in 1889 the immediate 8,000-hectare area of the Pound was separated from the main run and leased separately.
• The furthest airport from Wilpena Pound (HWK) is Flores Airport (FLW), which is located 11,642 miles (18,736 kilometers) away in Flores Island, Azores, Portugal.
• The closest airport to Wilpena Pound (HWK) is Leigh Creek Airport (LGH), which is located 67 miles (108 kilometers) N of HWK.
• In an attempt to sort out their conflicting claims over the pastoral lease, Bonney and Surveyor-General Henry Freeling employed H.C.
• Point Bonney was named after the Crown Commissioner of Lands Charles Bonney, while Rawnsley's Bluff is named after the surveyor H.C.
• After the immense labour of constructing a road through the torturous Wilpena Gap, they built a small homestead inside the Pound, which still stands today, and cleared some open patches in the thick scrub of the interior.
• Because of Wilpena Pound's relatively low elevation of 0 feet, planes can take off or land at Wilpena Pound 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.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• 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.
• 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.
• RAF Lyneham's position as the primary tactical transport base for the RAF was emphasised in February 1971 when Nos.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.