Nonstop flight route between Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Wick, Scotland, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States and Wick Airport (WIC), Wick, Scotland, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,014 miles (or 6,460 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 Wick 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 Wick 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 mission of the 28th Bomb Wing is to deliver decisive combat power for global response.
• 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.
• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• 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.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• An AN/MPS-14 height-finder radar was added in 1956.
• The 12th Air Division moved to Ellsworth on 15 July 1988.

Facts about Wick Airport (WIC):

• Wick Airport (WIC) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Wick Airport (WIC) is Kirkwall Airport (KOI), which is located 35 miles (57 kilometers) N of WIC.
• The airport is marketed as Wick John O' Groats by FlyBe, which operates a daily service to Edinburgh, using its franchise partner Loganair.
• Wick Airport is located 1 nautical mile north of the town of Wick in Caithness at the north-eastern extremity of the mainland of Scotland.
• The furthest airport from Wick Airport (WIC) is Ryan's Creek Aerodrome (SZS), which is located 11,559 miles (18,602 kilometers) away in Stewart Island, New Zealand.
• Because of Wick Airport's relatively low elevation of 126 feet, planes can take off or land at Wick 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.
• Wick was originally a grass airfield, used by Captain E.