Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Smithers, British Columbia, Canada:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Smithers Regional Airport (YYD), Smithers, British Columbia, Canada would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,447 miles (or 7,157 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 Smithers Regional 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 Smithers Regional 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.
• 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.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• 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.
• Control of RAF Lakenheath was allocated to Third Air Force at South Ruislip Air Station, which had command of SAC B-29 operations in England.
• By the time construction ended the war with Germany was over and RAF Lakenheath was put on a care and maintenance status.

Facts about Smithers Regional Airport (YYD):

• The furthest airport from Smithers Regional Airport (YYD) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 10,507 miles (16,909 kilometers) away in Port Alfred, South Africa.
• The closest airport to Smithers Regional Airport (YYD) is Burns Lake Airport (YPZ), which is located 58 miles (94 kilometers) ESE of YYD.
• Originally the runway was 5,000 ft, but it has been expanded to 7,544 ft so that the airport can land larger aircraft.
• NavCanada operates a Flight Service Station at Smithers Airport.
• Smithers Regional Airport (YYD) currently has only 1 runway.