Nonstop flight route between High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom and Visalia, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF High Wycombe (HYC), High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, United Kingdom and Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield (VIS), Visalia, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,318 miles (or 8,558 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 High Wycombe and Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield, 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 High Wycombe and Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield. 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 High Wycombe (HYC):

• Operationally during the Cold War the Director UKWMO would have been located at the United Kingdom Regional Air Operations Command within Strike Command's Operations Centre nuclear bunker at RAF High Wycombe to instigate the national Four minute air raid warnings, with the Deputy Director located at a standby UK RAOC, described at the time as being "elsewhere in the UK", but has since been revealed as being at Goosnargh near Preston within the UKWMO Western Sector nuclear bunker.
• To preserve secrecy, the station was known as "Southdown" in March 1940, as part of a directive by the Air Ministry.
• Since 2009, the station has been responsible for reviewing UFO sightings as part of efforts to identify any possible unauthorised military incursions into UK airspace.
• The furthest airport from RAF High Wycombe (HYC) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,867 miles (19,098 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to RAF High Wycombe (HYC) is RAF Benson (BEX), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) WSW of HYC.

Facts about Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield (VIS):

• The closest airport to Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield (VIS) is Mefford Field (TLR), which is located only 12 miles (19 kilometers) SSE of VIS.
• Visalia Municipal Airport is a city-owned public airport five miles west of downtown Visalia, in Tulare County, California.
• Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield (VIS) currently has only 1 runway.
• In January 1944 the Headquarters, Army Air Forces ordered the entire Air University night fighter training program to California to be headquartered at Hammer Field.
• Because of Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield's relatively low elevation of 295 feet, planes can take off or land at Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield 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 furthest airport from Visalia Municipal AirportVisalia Army Airfield (VIS) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,355 miles (18,274 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.