Nonstop flight route between Amarillo, Texas, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tradewind Airport (TDW), Amarillo, Texas, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,745 miles (or 7,637 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 Tradewind Airport and RAF Fairford, 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 Tradewind Airport and RAF Fairford. 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 Tradewind Airport (TDW):

• Tradewind Airport (TDW) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Tradewind Airport (TDW) is Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport (AMA), which is located only 8 miles (12 kilometers) ENE of TDW.
• The furthest airport from Tradewind Airport (TDW) is Sir Gaëtan Duval Airport (RRG), which is located 11,041 miles (17,768 kilometers) away in Rodrigues Island, Mauritius.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The furthest airport from RAF Fairford (FFD) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,898 miles (19,148 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• In the early years of the Cold War the British and American governments reached an agreement under which elements of the USAF Strategic Air Command would be based in the UK.
• The runway was completed in 1953, and served as a forward airbase for the first Convair B-36 Peacemaker aircraft from Carswell Air Force Base, Texas.
• Operations staff and maintenance personnel were permanently assigned, but aircraft, aircrews and crew chiefs were temporarily assigned to the 11th Strategic Group for the European Tanker Task Force on rotation.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• On 15 September 2009, it was announced that the USAF will withdraw all their uniformed staff from the station by September 2010, after which it will be run on a "care and maintenance" basis.
• On 14 January 2004, the 420th Air Base Group was established at RAF Fairford to improve the control of its geographically separated units that had been aligned beneath the 100th Air Refueling Wing at RAF Mildenhall.
• RAF Fairford was constructed in 1944 to serve as an airfield for British and American troop carriers and gliders for the D-Day invasion of Normandy during World War II.
• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of FFD.