Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Chicago, Illinois, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW), Chicago, Illinois, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,953 miles (or 6,362 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 Chicago Midway International 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 Chicago Midway International 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):

• 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.
• Aircraft of the 48th FW carry the tail code "LN".
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• 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 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.
• By 1950, Lakenheath was one of three main operating bases for the U.S.
• Meanwhile on 30 April 1956, two Lockheed U-2s were airlifted to RAF Lakenheath to form CIA Detachment A.

Facts about Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW):

• The closest airport to Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) is Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), which is located only 15 miles (25 kilometers) NNW of MDW.
• Because of Chicago Midway International Airport's relatively low elevation of 620 feet, planes can take off or land at Chicago Midway International 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.
• By 1967 reconstruction began at the airport, adding three new concourses with 28 gates and three ticket counters, and in 1968 the city invested $10 million in renovation funds.
• The Chicago Transit Authority displaced the Carlton Midway Inn to open a new CTA terminal at the airport on October 31, 1993, for the new Chicago 'L' Orange Line that connected Midway to Chicago's Loop.
• Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) has 5 runways.
• For over 16 years, Midway had been the main hub for Indianapolis-based ATA, but the airline shut down on June 7, 2008.
• Southwest, along with its subsidiary AirTran Airways, is the dominant carrier at Midway, controlling 34 of the airport's 43 gates.
• Simultaneous to Midway's expansion, ATA Airlines began rapid expansion at Midway in the early 2000s, and was the airport's dominant carrier prior to 2004, using 14 of the 17 gates in Concourse A.
• The furthest airport from Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,083 miles (17,836 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.