Nonstop flight route between Luxembourg-Findel, Luxembourg and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Luxembourg Airport (LUX), Luxembourg-Findel, Luxembourg and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,688 miles (or 7,544 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 Luxembourg Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base, 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 Luxembourg Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base. 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 Luxembourg Airport (LUX):

• The airport was originally known as "Sandweiler Airport", and was opened in the 1930s as a small grass airfield with a relatively short, 3400' runway.
• Luxembourg Airport handled 2,197,331 passengers last year.
• Luxembourg Airport (LUX) currently has only 1 runway.
• Sandweiler Airport was used by the Americans for the rest of the war as a transport supply airfield and also to evacuate combat casualties to England.
• In addition to being known as "Luxembourg Airport", other names for LUX include "Fluchhafe Lëtzebuerg", "Aéroport de Luxembourg" and "Flughafen Luxemburg".
• The furthest airport from Luxembourg Airport (LUX) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Luxembourg Airport (meaning Luxembourg Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,016 miles (19,338 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Luxembourg Airport (LUX) is Bitburg Airport (BBJ), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NE of LUX.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• The furthest airport from Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,579 miles (17,026 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• The airfield was again temporarily shut down from September 1946 – March 1947 and underwent a major construction program to upgrade the temporary wartime facilities to that of a permanent base.
• Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.
• The 44th Missile Wing, however, had ably accomplished its deterrence mission.
• The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.
• The closest airport to Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA) is Rapid City Regional Airport (RAP), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) S of RCA.