Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Sleetmute, Alaska, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Sleetmute Airport (SLQ), Sleetmute, Alaska, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,459 miles (or 7,175 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 Sleetmute 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 Sleetmute 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 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.
• 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.
• 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.
• The 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath is the Statue of Liberty Wing, the only USAF wing with both a number and a name.
• 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.

Facts about Sleetmute Airport (SLQ):

• Sleetmute Airport (SLQ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The closest airport to Sleetmute Airport (SLQ) is Red Devil Airport (RDV), which is located only 9 miles (14 kilometers) NW of SLQ.
• Because of Sleetmute Airport's relatively low elevation of 190 feet, planes can take off or land at Sleetmute 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 furthest airport from Sleetmute Airport (SLQ) is George Airport (GRJ), which is located 10,523 miles (16,935 kilometers) away in George, South Africa.