Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Valera, Venezuela:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño Airport (VLV), Valera, Venezuela would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,916 miles (or 7,911 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 Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño 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 Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño 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):

• In response to the threat by the Soviet Union, by the 1948 Berlin blockade, President Truman decided to realign USAFE into a permanent combat-capable force.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.
• In early 1943, three T-2 hangars were erected on the north side of the airfield for glider storage, 40 Horsa Gliders being dispersed at Lakenheath during that year.
• 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.
• Although an RAF station, it hosts United States Air Force units and personnel.
• Following French president Charles de Gaulle's insistence in 1959 that all non-French nuclear-capable forces should be withdrawn from his country, the USAF began a redeployment of its North American F-100-equipped units from France.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• On 1 May 1951, Lakenheath was transferred from USAFE to SAC, and placed under the 3909th Air Base Group.

Facts about Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño Airport (VLV):

• The furthest airport from Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño Airport (VLV) is Tunggul Wulung Airport (CXP), which is nearly antipodal to Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño Airport (meaning Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Tunggul Wulung Airport), and is located 12,316 miles (19,821 kilometers) away in Cilacap, Java Island, Indonesia.
• The closest airport to Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño Airport (VLV) is Barinas Airport (BNS), which is located 56 miles (90 kilometers) SSE of VLV.
• Dr. Antonio Nicolás Briceño Airport (VLV) currently has only 1 runway.
• On December 29, 2012, during a press conference, executives of Avior Airlines, announced it will reopen flights to this destination, being operated by the subsidiary Avior Regional with two daily flights from Caracas from 1 April 2013.
• The new SAET Director, Anibal Villegas, has made improvements to the airport, including new fuel storage tanks.