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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF), Erfurt, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,773 miles (or 7,681 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 Erfurt–Weimar 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 Erfurt–Weimar 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):

• 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.
• The installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• 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.
• 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.
• In March 1944, heavy bomber operational training ended and the 225th Army Air Force Base Unit began training of replacement personnel for deployed heavy bombardment units in the overseas combat theaters.
• 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.
• 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.
• The Titan I's life span was short in western South Dakota.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".

Facts about Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF):

• The airport consists of the two passenger terminal buildings A and B, but only the new Terminal B is currently in use.
• Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF) currently has only 1 runway.
• With the extension of tram line No.
• In addition to being known as "Erfurt–Weimar Airport", another name for ERF is "Flughafen Erfurt–Weimar".
• The furthest airport from Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,833 miles (19,043 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Erfurt–Weimar Airport is the airport of Erfurt, the capital of the German state of Thuringia and also serves the nearby well-known city of Weimar.
• The closest airport to Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF) is Hof–Plauen Airport (HOQ), which is located 62 miles (99 kilometers) SE of ERF.