Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and St. Louis, Missouri, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL), St. Louis, Missouri, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,199 miles (or 6,757 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 Lambert–St. Louis International 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 Lambert–St. Louis International 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 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 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.
• Following French president Charles de Gaulle's insistence in 1959 that all non-French nuclear-capable forces should be withdrawn from his country, the USAF began a redeployment of its North American F-100-equipped units from France.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.

Facts about Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL):

• Because of Lambert–St. Louis International Airport's relatively low elevation of 605 feet, planes can take off or land at Lambert–St. Louis International 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.
• In the late 1920s, Lambert Field became the first airport with an air traffic control system—albeit one that communicated with pilots via waving flags.
• The closest airport to Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL) is St. Louis Downtown Airport (CPS), which is located only 16 miles (27 kilometers) SE of STL.
• Lambert's passenger traffic slowly rebounded from American Airlines' cuts of November 2003, increasing from a low of 13.4 million passengers enplaned in 2004, to 15.4 million by 2007, and increase of almost 15 percent.
• On July 16, 2003, AA announced it was significantly reducing its Lambert hub effective November 1, 2003, cutting it from 417 daily flights to 207, effective November 1, 2003.
• Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL) has 4 runways.
• In 1985, Southwest Airlines began service, an event that would lead to major changes at the airport in the coming years.
• The furthest airport from Lambert–St. Louis International Airport (STL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,986 miles (17,681 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• On October 22, 2012, a Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340 landed at Lambert carrying VA Executives, including Richard Branson to discuss and explore the likelihood of a St Louis Route.