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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Stuttgart Airport (STR), Stuttgart, Germany would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,830 miles (or 7,774 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 Stuttgart 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 Stuttgart 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 Titan I's life span was short in western South Dakota.
• The 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.
• 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 host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing assigned to the Air Combat Command's Twelfth Air Force.
• 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.
• 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.

Facts about Stuttgart Airport (STR):

• After the death of former mayor Manfred Rommel in November 2013 local politicians proposed to rename the airport after him.
• In addition to being known as "Stuttgart Airport", another name for STR is "Flughafen Stuttgart".
• The airport was expanded after World War II.
• Stuttgart Airport (STR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Stuttgart Airport (STR) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Stuttgart Airport (meaning Stuttgart Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,004 miles (19,319 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Stuttgart Airport can be easily reached within 30 minutes from the city's central railway station using the Stuttgart suburban railway S2 or S3 from Stuttgart Flughafen/Messe station.
• It is an important hub for the Lufthansa subsidiary Germanwings and global headquarters for car parking company APCOA Parking.
• The closest airport to Stuttgart Airport (STR) is Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (ZWS), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) NNW of STR.