Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Kansas City, Missouri, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC), Kansas City, Missouri, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,337 miles (or 6,980 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 Charles B. Wheeler Downtown 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 Charles B. Wheeler Downtown 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):

• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.
• 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 closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of 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.
• By the time construction ended the war with Germany was over and RAF Lakenheath was put on a care and maintenance status.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
• Meanwhile on 30 April 1956, two Lockheed U-2s were airlifted to RAF Lakenheath to form CIA Detachment A.

Facts about Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC):

• The airport is on the north side of the confluence of the Kansas River and Missouri River.
• Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC) has 2 runways.
• Because of Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport's relatively low elevation of 756 feet, planes can take off or land at Charles B. Wheeler Downtown 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.
• The closest airport to Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC) is Kansas City International Airport (MCI), which is located only 14 miles (22 kilometers) NNW of MKC.
• The furthest airport from Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport (MKC) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,758 miles (17,313 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• This airport replaced Richards Field as Kansas City's main airport.
• It is home to the National Airline History Museum, and the TWA Museum.