Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Shirahama, Japan:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Nanki-Shirahama Airport (SHM), Shirahama, Japan would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,896 miles (or 9,488 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 Nanki-Shirahama 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 Nanki-Shirahama 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.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• On 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• 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.
• Taking part in more than 350 operations, more than half mine-laying, 149 Squadron had one of the lowest percentage loss rates of all Stirling squadrons.
• 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 Nanki-Shirahama Airport (SHM):

• In addition to being known as "Nanki-Shirahama Airport", other names for SHM include "南紀白浜空港" and "Nanki Shirahama Kūkō".
• Nanki-Shirahama Airport (SHM) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Nanki-Shirahama Airport (SHM) is Diomício Freitas/Forquilhinha Airport (CCM), which is located 11,994 miles (19,302 kilometers) away in Criciúma, Santa Catarina, Brazil.
• Because of Nanki-Shirahama Airport's relatively low elevation of 293 feet, planes can take off or land at Nanki-Shirahama 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 Nanki-Shirahama Airport (SHM) is Kansai International Airport (KIX), which is located 54 miles (87 kilometers) N of SHM.