Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Montrose, Colorado, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), Montrose, Colorado, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,835 miles (or 7,782 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 Montrose Regional 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 Montrose Regional 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):

• 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 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 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.
• In April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.
• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• 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.

Facts about Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ):

• The airport is seasonal—many flights operate from MTJ only during the winter.
• Because of Montrose Regional Airport's high elevation of 5,759 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at MTJ. Combined with a high temperature, this could make MTJ a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.
• Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Telluride Regional Airport (TEX), which is located 38 miles (62 kilometers) S of MTJ.
• The furthest airport from Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,040 miles (17,766 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Monarch Airlines started flying to Montrose in the 1940s.
• Montrose Regional Airport was dedicated June 25, 1988, with Chuck Yeager cutting the ribbon.