Nonstop flight route between Lubbock, Texas, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (LBB), Lubbock, Texas, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,824 miles (or 7,763 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 Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport 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 Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport 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 Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (LBB):

• The base was activated on September 11, 1942 as the South Plains Flying School.
• Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport covers 3,000 acres at an elevation of 3,282 feet above mean sea level.
• In addition to being known as "Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport", another name for LBB is "(former South Plains Army Airfield)".
• The closest airport to Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (LBB) is Hale County Airport (PVW), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) N of LBB.
• Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (LBB) has 3 runways.
• It is in the National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015, which called it a primary commercial service airport.Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 562,241 passenger boardings in calendar year 2008, 534,818 in 2009 and 508,858 in 2010.
• The furthest airport from Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (LBB) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,113 miles (17,885 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• 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.
• 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.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.
• 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.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.