Nonstop flight route between Teesside, England, United Kingdom and Edwards, California, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME), Teesside, England, United Kingdom and Edwards Air Force Base (EDW), Edwards, California, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,203 miles (or 8,373 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 Durham Tees Valley Airport and Edwards 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 Durham Tees Valley Airport and Edwards 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 Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME):

• Durham Tees Valley Airport handled 161,092 passengers last year.
• The furthest airport from Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,741 miles (18,895 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Shortly afterwards, a new access road, terminal front and terminal interior were completed, but the remainder of a planned £56 million expansion and development programme which would have enabled the airport to handle up to 3 million passengers annually never materialised due to the above mentioned decrease in passenger numbers.
• The Sky Express bus service was launched in May 2005 and connected the airport with Darlington's Rail Station and Town Hall.
• Durham Tees Valley is a base for Cobham plc, who have a fleet of six Dassault Falcon 20s based at the airport.
• The closest airport to Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) is Newcastle Airport (NCL), which is located 38 miles (61 kilometers) NNW of MME.
• The former RAF Station and airfield was purchased by the former Cleveland County Council, which saw the potential of the airfield as a commercial one, and developed it into a civil airport.
• Arriva North East presently operates services 12 and 20.
• Because of Durham Tees Valley Airport's relatively low elevation of 120 feet, planes can take off or land at Durham Tees Valley 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.
• 1990 saw the one millionth aircraft movement at the airport, in the form of a British Midland service to London Heathrow.
• Durham Tees Valley Airport (MME) currently has only 1 runway.

Facts about Edwards Air Force Base (EDW):

• A water stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad since 1876, the site was largely unsettled until the early 20th century.
• With the arrival of the Bell Aircraft P-59 Airacomet jet fighter, the Mojave Desert station was chosen as a secluded site for testing this super-secret airplane.
• Edwards is also home to several other units from DOD, Air Force, Army, Navy, FAA, USPS and many companies that support the primary mission or the personnel stationed there.
• The initial use for Muroc was IV Bomber Command Operational Unit training.
• The furthest airport from Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Pierrefonds Airport (ZSE), which is located 11,414 miles (18,369 kilometers) away in Saint-Pierre, Réunion.
• The closest airport to Edwards Air Force Base (EDW) is Mojave Air and Space Port (MHV), which is located only 19 miles (30 kilometers) NW of EDW.
• In the spring of 1942, however, the immense volume of flight test already being conducted at Wright Field, in Ohio, was one of the factors driving a search for a new site where a "Top Secret" airplane could undergo tests.
• The P-59s were tested at Muroc from October 1942 through February 1944 without a single accident and, though the aircraft did not prove to be combat worthy, the successful conduct of its test program, combined with the success of the Lockheed XP-80 program which followed it in early 1944, sealed the future destiny of the remote high desert installation.
• The success of these programs attracted a new type of research activity to the base in late 1946.