Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Stavanger, Norway:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Stavanger-Sola International Airport (SVG), Stavanger, Norway would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,249 miles (or 6,838 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 Stavanger-Sola International 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 Stavanger-Sola International 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):

• 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.
• 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 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.
• On 15 July 1945, the 225th AAFBU was inactivated and Rapid City AAB was placed on standby status as the Army Air Forces began to demobilize.
• 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.
• 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 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.
• 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 Stavanger-Sola International Airport (SVG):

• Stavanger-Sola International Airport (SVG) has 2 runways.
• Stavanger-Sola International Airport handled 4,119,348 passengers last year.
• The closest airport to Stavanger-Sola International Airport (SVG) is Haugesund Airport, Karmøy (HAU), which is located 36 miles (57 kilometers) NNW of SVG.
• In addition to being known as "Stavanger-Sola International Airport", another name for SVG is "Stavanger lufthavn, Sola".
• Originally, the idea was to locate the Stavanger airport at Forus, but after the war the Royal Norwegian Air Force decided to use Sola temporarily until the new airport was built, and nothing ever became of Forus.
• The Norwegian authorities have denied, among others, Northwest Airlines the right to start flying intercontinental flights from the United States.
• Sola has quite a number of technical facilities, and has the largest aviation technical environment in Norway, including the largest helicopter maintenance facilites in Northern-Europe, Braathens had its technical main base at Sola, as does Norwegian Air Shutte, CHC Helikopter Service, Heli-One Norway, Bristow Norway, Norsk Helikopterservice, Norcopter, Pratt & Whitney Norway Engine Centre and the air force's helicopter main technical base.
• Because of Stavanger-Sola International Airport's relatively low elevation of 29 feet, planes can take off or land at Stavanger-Sola International 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 furthest airport from Stavanger-Sola International Airport (SVG) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,392 miles (18,334 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.