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):

• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• 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 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 1986, the base and the 28 BMW made extensive preparations to phase out the aging B-52 fleet and become the second home for the advanced B-1B Lancer.
• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• Air Defense Command activated the 740th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Rapid City AFB on 1 February 1953 under the ADC 31st Air Division.

Facts about Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF):

• Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF) currently has only 1 runway.
• In addition to being known as "Erfurt–Weimar Airport", another name for ERF is "Flughafen Erfurt–Weimar".
• The airport used to have scheduled service from London Stansted Airport from Ryanair which ceased on 19 January 2005 when the airline moved services to Leipzig–Altenburg Airport leaving the airport with no regular flights operated by a low-cost carrier.
• 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.
• The closest airport to Erfurt–Weimar Airport (ERF) is Hof–Plauen Airport (HOQ), which is located 62 miles (99 kilometers) SE of ERF.
• 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 airport consists of the two passenger terminal buildings A and B, but only the new Terminal B is currently in use.