Nonstop flight route between Tonghua, Jilin, China and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport (TNH), Tonghua, Jilin, China and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,749 miles (or 9,252 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 Tonghua Sanyuanpu 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 Tonghua Sanyuanpu 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 Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport (TNH):

• The furthest airport from Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport (TNH) is Miramar Airport (MJR), which is nearly antipodal to Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport (meaning Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Miramar Airport), and is located 12,101 miles (19,474 kilometers) away in Miramar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
• The closest airport to Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport (TNH) is Changbaishan Airport (NBS), which is located 95 miles (153 kilometers) E of TNH.
• In addition to being known as "Tonghua Sanyuanpu Airport", other names for TNH include "通化三源浦机场" and "Tōnghuà Sānyuánpǔ Jīchǎng".

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• 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 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.
• The mission of the 28th Bomb Wing is to deliver decisive combat power for global response.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• Military organizations periodically upgrade manpower and machines from time to time to meet new national security requirements and Ellsworth Air Force Base's organizations were no exception.
• 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.
• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.
• On 1 June 1971, SAC deactivated the 821st Strategic Aerospace Division and by October of that year, an upgraded LGM-30F Minuteman II also replaced the Minuteman I missiles.