Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Charleston, West Virginia, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Yeager Airport (CRW), Charleston, West Virginia, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,879 miles (or 6,242 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 Yeager Airport, 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 Yeager Airport. 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):

• Lakenheath Airfield was used by RAF flying units on detachment late in 1941.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• A near nuclear accident occurred on 27 July 1956 – when a B-47 bomber crashed into a storage igloo at Lakenheath containing three MK-6 nuclear weapons while on a routine training mission.
• Royal Air Force Lakenheath or RAF Lakenheath, is a Royal Air Force station near the town of Lakenheath in Suffolk, England located 4.7 miles north-east of Mildenhall, Suffolk and 8.3 miles west of Thetford, Norfolk.
• 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.
• Taking part in more than 350 operations, more than half mine-laying, 149 Squadron had one of the lowest percentage loss rates of all Stirling squadrons.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• On 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.

Facts about Yeager Airport (CRW):

• The furthest airport from Yeager Airport (CRW) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,458 miles (18,440 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• During World War II Charleston's airport, Wertz Field, closed when the airport's approaches were blocked by the federal government building a synthetic rubber plant next to the airport.
• On March 3, 2011, Spirit Airlines began flights to Fort Lauderdale and on May 5, 2011, Spirit started seasonal flights between Charleston and Myrtle Beach.
• Because of Yeager Airport's relatively low elevation of 981 feet, planes can take off or land at Yeager 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.
• On July 28, 2010 a United Airlines Boeing 757 from Washington Dulles to San Diego was forced to divert to Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia after smoke was detected in a restroom.
• Runway 5/23's heading is 235°.
• Yeager Airport (CRW) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Yeager Airport (CRW) is Raleigh County Memorial Airport (BKW), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) SSE of CRW.