Nonstop flight route between Thief River Falls, Minnesota, United States and Rapid City, South Dakota, United States:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Thief River Falls Regional Airport (TVF), Thief River Falls, Minnesota, United States and Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA), Rapid City, South Dakota, United States would travel a Great Circle distance of 427 miles (or 687 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 relatively short distance between Thief River Falls Regional Airport and Ellsworth Air Force Base, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Thief River Falls Regional Airport (TVF):

• Thief River Falls Regional Airport is a public use airport located three nautical miles south of the central business district of Thief River Falls, a city in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States.
• The furthest airport from Thief River Falls Regional Airport (TVF) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 10,555 miles (16,986 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Thief River Falls Regional Airport (TVF) has 2 runways.
• The closest airport to Thief River Falls Regional Airport (TVF) is Crookston Municipal Airport (CKN), which is located 25 miles (41 kilometers) SW of TVF.

Facts about Ellsworth Air Force Base (RCA):

• 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 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.
• An Army Air-Defense Command Post was established at Ellsworth in 1960 for Nike missile command-and-control functions.
• The 740th AC&W Squadron began operations in 1955 with AN/MPS-7 search radar, and initially the station functioned as a Ground-Control Intercept and warning station.
• In addition to being known as "Ellsworth Air Force Base", another name for RCA is "Ellsworth AFB".
• 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.
• Rapid City AAF was assigned to the 17th Bombardment Training Wing, II Bomber Command.