Nonstop flight route between Knoxville, Tennessee, United States and Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS), Knoxville, Tennessee, United States and RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,097 miles (or 6,593 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 McGhee Tyson Airport 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 McGhee Tyson Airport 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 McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS):

• McGhee Tyson Airport covers 2,250 acres at an elevation of 981 feet above mean sea level.
• The closest airport to McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) is Gatlinburg–Pigeon Forge Airport (GKT), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) E of TYS.
• The 134 ARW, which is operationally gained by the Air Mobility Command, operates KC-135R Stratotankers for both air mobility and aerial refueling of military aircraft.
• The fixed base operator at TYS is the Truman-Arnold Company.
• The development of TYS helped the City of Alcoa diversify its economy and gain its economic independence from what is today Alcoa Inc., the world's third largest producer of aluminum.
• The furthest airport from McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,348 miles (18,263 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Because of McGhee Tyson Airport's relatively low elevation of 981 feet, planes can take off or land at McGhee Tyson Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• McGhee Tyson Airport handled 1,688,882 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "McGhee Tyson Airport", another name for TYS is "McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base".
• McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) has 2 runways.
• Owned by the Metropolitan Knoxville Airport Authority, it sees several major airlines and connection carriers.

Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):

• The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
• 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.
• 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 work entailed removal of the existing runways and laying new ones comprising 12 inches of high-grade concrete.
• In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.