Nonstop flight route between St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom and Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between St Mary's Airport (ISC), St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom and RAF Benson (BEX), Benson, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 256 miles (or 411 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 relatively short distance between St Mary's Airport and RAF Benson, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about St Mary's Airport (ISC):

• In May 2013, the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and the Council of the Isles of Scilly submitted a joint bid for finance from the European Regional Development Fund for improvements to the terminal, new lighting and navigational systems and runway resurfacing, together with runway resurfacing at Land's End Airport.
• Because of St Mary's Airport's relatively low elevation of 116 feet, planes can take off or land at St Mary's 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.
• St Mary's Airport (ISC) has 2 runways.
• St Mary's Airport handled 89,170 passengers last year.
• In 1938 Great Western and Southern Airlines took over Olley Air Service and Channel Air Ferries.
• The furthest airport from St Mary's Airport (ISC) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is nearly antipodal to St Mary's Airport (meaning St Mary's Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Dunedin International Airport), and is located 12,117 miles (19,501 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• In 1975, a new terminal was opened by the then incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
• Mayflower Air Services started services to the airport in 1961.
• The closest airport to St Mary's Airport (ISC) is Tresco Heliport (TSO), which is located only 3 miles (5 kilometers) NW of ISC.
• The current 600m asphalt runway, 15/33, was built in 1991.
• In addition to being known as "St Mary's Airport", other names for ISC include "Isles of Scilly Airport" and "Scilly Isles/St Mary's Airport".

Facts about RAF Benson (BEX):

• The furthest airport from RAF Benson (BEX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,879 miles (19,118 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The airfield is a well-known frost hollow, often recording the coldest temperatures in the UK.
• The closest airport to RAF Benson (BEX) is RAF High Wycombe (HYC), which is located only 13 miles (22 kilometers) ENE of BEX.
• The Chiltern Air Support Unit helicopter and the Thames Valley and Chiltern Air Ambulance helicopter are also both located here as lodger units.
• The future of RAF Benson was in doubt for some time, while Project Belvedere was looking into closing at least one of Joint Helicopter Command's airfields.
• The King's Flight moved from RAF Hendon and would stay until after the war, moving to RAF Northolt in 1995.