Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Land's End, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Land's End Airport (LEQ), Land's End, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,259 miles (or 6,854 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 Land's End 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 Land's End 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):

• Ellsworth AFB was established in 1941 as Rapid City Army Air Base.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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 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.
• When operations resumed in 1947 the base was a new United States Air Force asset.
• In October 1960, Ellsworth entered the "Space Age," with the activation of the 850th Strategic Missile Squadron, initially assigned to the 28 BMW.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• 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.

Facts about Land's End Airport (LEQ):

• Land's End Airport (LEQ) has 4 runways.
• Between 1966 and 1970, Scillonia Airways operated from the airport, flying Rapides.
• The furthest airport from Land's End Airport (LEQ) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is nearly antipodal to Land's End Airport (meaning Land's End Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Dunedin International Airport), and is located 12,091 miles (19,459 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to Land's End Airport (LEQ) is St Mary's Airport (ISC), which is located 31 miles (49 kilometers) WSW of LEQ.
• Because of Land's End Airport's relatively low elevation of 401 feet, planes can take off or land at Land's End 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 airport has a CAA Private Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying instruction for daytime use only as authorised by the licensee Westward Airways Limited.
• Land's End Airport handled 46,626 passengers last year.
• On 9 April 2013 a new £1 million passenger terminal was officially opened.
• In addition to being known as "Land's End Airport", another name for LEQ is "St Just Airport".