Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Santa Paula, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Santa Paula Airport (SZP), Santa Paula, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,429 miles (or 8,737 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 Santa Paula 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 Santa Paula 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.
• Although an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• RAF Lakenheath, and nearby, RAF Mildenhall, are the two main U.S.
• In April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.
• 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.
• 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.
• By the time construction ended the war with Germany was over and RAF Lakenheath was put on a care and maintenance status.

Facts about Santa Paula Airport (SZP):

• The closest airport to Santa Paula Airport (SZP) is Oxnard Airport (OXR), which is located only 13 miles (21 kilometers) SW of SZP.
• The furthest airport from Santa Paula Airport (SZP) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,476 miles (18,469 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• For the 12-month period ending December 8, 2011, the airport had 97,000 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 265 per day.
• Santa Paula Airport (SZP) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Santa Paula Airport's relatively low elevation of 243 feet, planes can take off or land at Santa Paula 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.
• Today Santa Paula Airport is a non-towered facility handling approximately 97,000 arrivals and/or departures a year, and is home to over 309 individual aircraft.
• The former Logsdon's Restaurant closed in early 2013, no operator has resumed food service yet.