Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Dresden, Germany:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Dresden Airport (DRS), Dresden, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,849 miles (or 7,804 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 Dresden 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 Dresden 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):

• In October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• 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.
• After the Army closed their facilities, the military housing at the Nike Integrated Fire Control sites was transferred to control of Ellsworth, and was used as Air Force military family housing until about 1990.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• 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 Dresden Airport (DRS):

• The furthest airport from Dresden Airport (DRS) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,742 miles (18,897 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Because of Dresden Airport's relatively low elevation of 754 feet, planes can take off or land at Dresden 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.
• In 2008, 1,860,364 passengers passed through the airport, an increase of 0.3% over the previous year and a record for the airport.
• During the following years, the airport was used as an education centre for the Soviet army.
• The closest airport to Dresden Airport (DRS) is Leipzig–Altenburg Airport (AOC), which is located 56 miles (90 kilometers) W of DRS.
• In addition to being known as "Dresden Airport", another name for DRS is "Flughafen Dresden".
• Dresden Airport railway station is situated in the basement of the terminal building.
• The airport is served by an adjacent junction on the A4 Autobahn, which by-passes central Dresden on its route from Aachen, on the Dutch border, to Görlitz, on the Polish border.
• Dresden Airport (DRS) currently has only 1 runway.