Nonstop flight route between Salida, Colorado, United States and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Harriet Alexander Field (SLT), Salida, Colorado, United States and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,772 miles (or 7,680 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 Harriet Alexander Field and RAF Lakenheath, 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 Harriet Alexander Field and RAF Lakenheath. 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 Harriet Alexander Field (SLT):

• The closest airport to Harriet Alexander Field (SLT) is Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional Airport (GUC), which is located 48 miles (77 kilometers) W of SLT.
• In addition to being known as "Harriet Alexander Field", another name for SLT is "ANK".
• The furthest airport from Harriet Alexander Field (SLT) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 10,993 miles (17,691 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.
• Harriet Alexander Field (SLT) currently has only 1 runway.
• Because of Harriet Alexander Field's high elevation of 7,523 feet, planes must typically fly at a faster airspeed in order to takeoff or land at SLT. Combined with a high temperature, this could make SLT a "Hot & High" airport, where the air density is lower than it would otherwise be at sea level.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The furthest airport from RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is located 11,827 miles (19,034 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• In 1941, hard runways were put down with the main runway, 04/22, being 2,000 yards, and the subsidiaries, 12/30 at 1,300 yards and 16/34 at 1,400 yards.
• The work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• The increasing tension of the Cold War lead to a re-evaluation of these deployments, and by 1953 SAC bombers began to move its heavy bomb groups further west, behind RAF fighter forces, to RAF Brize Norton, RAF Greenham Common, RAF Upper Heyford and RAF Fairford, while its shorter-range B-47 were sent to East Anglia.
• On 27 November 1948, operational control of RAF Lakenheath was transferred from the Royal Air Force to USAFE.