Nonstop flight route between Coningsby, England, United Kingdom and Detroit, Michigan, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Coningsby (QCY), Coningsby, England, United Kingdom and Willow Run Airport (YIP) (YIP), Detroit, Michigan, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,726 miles (or 5,996 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 Coningsby and Willow Run Airport (YIP), 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 Coningsby and Willow Run Airport (YIP). 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 Coningsby (QCY):

• The base received its first jet aircraft — the English Electric Canberra — in 1953.
• RAF Coningsby was opened in 1940 as a bomber station.No.
• The RAF Coningsby structure as of October 2010
• The furthest airport from RAF Coningsby (QCY) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,781 miles (18,959 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to RAF Coningsby (QCY) is RAF Binbrook (GSY), which is located 24 miles (39 kilometers) N of QCY.
• Also based at Coningsby is the RAF's Fast Jet and Weapons Operational Evaluation Unit, a merger of the Strike/Attack OEU, the Tornado F.3 OEU and the Air-Guided Weapons OEU.

Facts about Willow Run Airport (YIP) (YIP):

• Willow Run Airport (YIP) (YIP) has 4 runways.
• At about the same time it sold the airfield, the RFC leased the bomber plant to the Kaiser-Frazer automobile company.
• The closest airport to Willow Run Airport (YIP) (YIP) is Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), which is located only 9 miles (15 kilometers) E of YIP.
• The Willow Run bomber plant had many problems at startup, due in part to the mindsets and technical skills of both management and labor, who were each accustomed to the requirements of auto production, finding it difficult at first to adapt to the higher precision required in aircraft production.
• Between 1946 and 1947, passenger airlines serving Detroit moved from Detroit City Airport on the city's crowded east side, to Willow Run.
• Once production began, it became difficult to introduce changes dictated by field experience in the various overseas theaters onto the production line in a timely fashion.
• The furthest airport from Willow Run Airport (YIP) (YIP) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,276 miles (18,147 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of Willow Run Airport (YIP)'s relatively low elevation of 716 feet, planes can take off or land at Willow Run Airport (YIP) 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.
• Today the Yankee Air Museum, in one of the airport hangars, has a large collection of vintage aircraft.
• Opened in 1942, "Willow Run" was synonymous with the American industrial effort that contributed so much to Allied victory in World War II.