Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Campbeltown, Scotland, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Campbeltown Airport (CAL), Campbeltown, Scotland, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,048 miles (or 6,514 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base and Campbeltown 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base and Campbeltown 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 Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• To provide air defense of the base, the United States Army established the Ellsworth AFB Defense Area in 1957 and constructed Nike-Ajax Surface-to-air missile sites for air defense.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• Ellsworth Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located approximately 10 miles northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota just north of Box Elder, South Dakota.
• On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat Command.
• Ellsworth's population of approximately 8,000 includes military members, family members and civilian employees.
• Military organizations periodically upgrade manpower and machines from time to time to meet new national security requirements and Ellsworth Air Force Base's organizations were no exception.
• 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.

Facts about Campbeltown Airport (CAL):

• Campbeltown Airport (CAL) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport was formerly known as RAF Machrihanish and hosted squadrons of the Royal Air Force and other NATO air forces as well as the United States Marine Corps.
• Campbeltown Airport handled 9,181 passengers last year.
• Because of Campbeltown Airport's relatively low elevation of 42 feet, planes can take off or land at Campbeltown 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.
• The closest airport to Campbeltown Airport (CAL) is Islay Airport (ILY), which is located 28 miles (45 kilometers) NW of CAL.
• The furthest airport from Campbeltown Airport (CAL) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,789 miles (18,973 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• In addition to being known as "Campbeltown Airport", other names for CAL include "Port-adhair Cheann Loch Chille Chiarain", "RAF Machrihanish" and "MoD Machrihanish".