Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Greenville, South Carolina, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Donaldson Center Airport (GDC), Greenville, South Carolina, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,084 miles (or 6,573 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 Donaldson Center 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 Donaldson Center 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):

• RAF Lakenheath, and nearby, RAF Mildenhall, are the two main U.S.
• In early 1943, three T-2 hangars were erected on the north side of the airfield for glider storage, 40 Horsa Gliders being dispersed at Lakenheath during that year.
• The first use of Lakenheath Warren as a Royal Flying Corps airfield was in World War I, when the area was made into a bombing and ground-attack range for aircraft flying from elsewhere in the area.
• On 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
• Lakenheath Airfield was used by RAF flying units on detachment late in 1941.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Donaldson Center Airport (GDC):

• The closest airport to Donaldson Center Airport (GDC) is Greenville Downtown Airport (GMU), which is located only 6 miles (10 kilometers) NNE of GDC.
• The furthest airport from Donaldson Center Airport (GDC) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,439 miles (18,410 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Donaldson Center Airport (GDC) currently has only 1 runway.
• Greenville Army Air Base opened in 1942 during World War II.
• In addition to being known as "Donaldson Center Airport", another name for GDC is "GYH".
• Because of Donaldson Center Airport's relatively low elevation of 955 feet, planes can take off or land at Donaldson Center 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.