Nonstop flight route between Willows, California, United States and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW), Willows, California, United States and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 5,190 miles (or 8,352 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 Willows-Glenn County 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 Willows-Glenn County 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 Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW):

• For the 12-month period ending March 31, 2011, the airport had 29,500 general aviation aircraft operations, an average of 80 per day.
• Because of Willows-Glenn County Airport's relatively low elevation of 141 feet, planes can take off or land at Willows-Glenn County 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.
• Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW) has 2 runways.
• The War Department acquired 318.2 acres by a lease with Glenn County, California, in 1942.
• The closest airport to Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW) is Chico Municipal Airport (CIC), which is located 27 miles (44 kilometers) NE of WLW.
• The furthest airport from Willows-Glenn County Airport (WLW) is Tôlanaro Airport (FTU), which is located 11,255 miles (18,114 kilometers) away in Tôlanaro, Madagascar.

Facts about RAF Fairford (FFD):

• The closest airport to RAF Fairford (FFD) is RAF Brize Norton (BZZ), which is located only 10 miles (16 kilometers) ENE of 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.
• Fairford was chosen in 1969 as the British test centre for the Concorde aircraft, which continued until 1977.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.