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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Siegerland Airport (SGE), Burbach, Germany and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,697 miles (or 7,558 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 Siegerland Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base, 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 Siegerland Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base. 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 Siegerland Airport (SGE):

• The closest airport to Siegerland Airport (SGE) is Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN), which is located 42 miles (68 kilometers) WNW of SGE.
• In addition to being known as "Siegerland Airport", another name for SGE is "Siegerlandflughafen".
• Siegerland Airport (SGE) has 3 runways.
• The furthest airport from Siegerland Airport (SGE) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,915 miles (19,175 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• Shortly after additional runway improvements, in July 1949, the 28 BMW began conversion from B-29s to the huge B-36 Peacemaker.
• 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.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• On 1 June 1992, as part of the first major reorganization since the creation of USAF, the Air Force inactivated Strategic Air Command and assigned Ellsworth's organizations ) to the newly activated Air Combat Command.
• 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.
• 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 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 installation changed names a few more times during its early years.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.