Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Beijing, China:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY), Beijing, China would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,001 miles (or 8,048 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 Beijing Nanyuan 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 Beijing Nanyuan 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 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath is the Statue of Liberty Wing, the only USAF wing with both a number and a name.
• Lakenheath Airfield was used by RAF flying units on detachment late in 1941.
• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.
• 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 April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In addition to supporting three combat-ready squadrons of F-15E Strike Eagle and F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft, the Liberty Wing houses the 56th Rescue Squadron's HH-60G Combat Search and Rescue helicopters.
• The squadron markings consisted of alternating stripes across the tailfin in squadron colours, with a shadowed "V" shaped chevron on the nose.

Facts about Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY):

• A limo Beijing Airport Bus service is available to and from the Air China Building at Xidan in Beijing's city centre.
• The closest airport to Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) is Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK), which is located 23 miles (37 kilometers) NNE of NAY.
• Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) currently has only 1 runway.
• Nanyuan Airport opened a new terminal in September 2013 with a designed passenger handling capacity of 6 million people.
• In addition to being known as "Beijing Nanyuan Airport", other names for NAY include "北京南苑机场" and "Běijīng Nányuàn Jīchǎng".
• The furthest airport from Beijing Nanyuan Airport (NAY) is Gobernador Edgardo Castello Airport (VDM), which is nearly antipodal to Beijing Nanyuan Airport (meaning Beijing Nanyuan Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Gobernador Edgardo Castello Airport), and is located 12,355 miles (19,884 kilometers) away in Viedma, Argentina.