Nonstop flight route between Okayama, Japan and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Okayama Airport (OKJ), Okayama, Japan and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,790 miles (or 9,318 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 Okayama Airport and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Okayama Airport and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Okayama Airport (OKJ):

• In addition to being known as "Okayama Airport", other names for OKJ include "岡山空港" and "Okayama Kūkō".
• Because of Okayama Airport's relatively low elevation of 785 feet, planes can take off or land at Okayama 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.
• Okayama Airport (OKJ) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Okayama Airport (OKJ) is Rio Grande Regional Airport (RIG), which is nearly antipodal to Okayama Airport (meaning Okayama Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Rio Grande Regional Airport), and is located 12,044 miles (19,382 kilometers) away in Rio Grande, Brazil.
• The closest airport to Okayama Airport (OKJ) is Takamatsu Airport (TAK), which is located 39 miles (62 kilometers) SSE of OKJ.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The reason for the departure of the two bomber squadrons was Lakenheath's selection for upgrading to a Very Heavy Bomber 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.
• A near nuclear accident occurred on 27 July 1956 – when a B-47 bomber crashed into a storage igloo at Lakenheath containing three MK-6 nuclear weapons while on a routine training mission.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
• 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.