Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Ailinglaplap Atoll, Marshall Islands:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Ailinglaplap Atoll (AIP), Ailinglaplap Atoll, Marshall Islands would travel a Great Circle distance of 8,246 miles (or 13,271 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 Lakenheath and Ailinglaplap Atoll, 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 Lakenheath and Ailinglaplap Atoll. 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 Lakenheath (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.
• The increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evaluation of these deployments, and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move its heavy bomb groups further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford, while its shorter-range B-47 were sent to East Anglia.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• Although an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel.
• 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.
• In response to the threat by the Soviet Union, by the 1948 Berlin blockade, President Truman decided to realign USAFE into a permanent combat-capable force.
• 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.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.

Facts about Ailinglaplap Atoll (AIP):

• The current Iroijlaplap of Ailinglaplap is Anjua Loeak.
• The closest airport to Ailinglaplap Atoll (AIP) is Woja Airport (WJA), which is located only 14 miles (23 kilometers) WNW of AIP.
• The furthest airport from Ailinglaplap Atoll (AIP) is RAF Ascension (ASI), which is nearly antipodal to Ailinglaplap Atoll (meaning Ailinglaplap Atoll is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from RAF Ascension), and is located 12,218 miles (19,663 kilometers) away in Georgetown, Ascension Island, Saint Helena.
• Ailinglaplap Atoll was claimed by the Empire of Germany along with the rest of the Marshall Islands in 1884.
• "Ailinglaplap" translates as "greatest atoll" + ļapļap ), because the greatest legends of the Marshallese people were created there.