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

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Stuttgart Airport (STR), Stuttgart, Germany and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States 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 Stuttgart 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 Stuttgart 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 Stuttgart Airport (STR):

• The closest airport to Stuttgart Airport (STR) is Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof (ZWS), which is located only 7 miles (11 kilometers) NNW of STR.
• In addition to being known as "Stuttgart Airport", another name for STR is "Flughafen Stuttgart".
• From the cities of Esslingen am Neckar, Reutlingen and Tübingen exists a connection by bus.
• 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.
• The original 1938 terminal was finally replaced in 2004 and there are now four terminals with a maximum capacity of approximately 12 million passengers.
• Stuttgart Airport (STR) currently has only 1 runway.
• Stuttgart Airport consists of four passenger terminals which have separate check-in facilities and entrances but are directly connected to each other and share a single airside area which features eight Jet bridges as well as about two dozen bus-boarding stands.
• After the death of former mayor Manfred Rommel in November 2013 local politicians proposed to rename the airport after him.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• Air Defense Command deactivated the Ellsworth radar site on 15 August 1962 and the 740th was discontinued.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAB was reactivated on 11 October 1945 and was assigned to Continental Air Force.
• 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.
• Internationally, the destruction of the Berlin Wall in October 1989 symbolized the imminent demise of the Soviet Union over the next several months.
• The base experienced one of its worst peacetime tragedies in March 1953 when an RB-36 and its entire crew of 23 crashed in Newfoundland while returning from a routine exercise in Europe.