Nonstop flight route between Wrightstown, New Jersey, United States and St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between McGuire AFB (WRI), Wrightstown, New Jersey, United States and MoD St Athan (DGX), St Athan, Wales, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,381 miles (or 5,442 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 McGuire AFB and MoD St Athan, 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 McGuire AFB and MoD St Athan. 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 McGuire AFB (WRI):

• Fort Dix Army Air Base was phased down in the fall of 1945 and was placed on Temporary Inactive Status on 15 February 1945.
• Fort Dix Army Air Base was taken out of inactive status and activated as a primary installation on 29 August 1948.
• McGuire hosts the flying needs of its mission partners on JB MDL.
• The furthest airport from McGuire AFB (WRI) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,757 miles (18,921 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• The supersonic Bomarc missiles were the first long-range anti-aircraft missiles in the world, and were equipped with a W40 nuclear warhead.
• McGuire Air Force Base was established as Fort Dix Airport in 1937 and first opened to military aircraft on 9 January 1941.
• Military Air Transport Service took over jurisdiction of McGuire AFB on 1 July 1954 and took over the flight line of McGuire in 1956, with the ADC interceptors being reassigned.
• In addition to being known as "McGuire AFB", another name for WRI is "McGuire AFB/JB MDL McGuire".
• The closest airport to McGuire AFB (WRI) is JB MDL Lakehurst (NEL), which is located only 13 miles (20 kilometers) E of WRI.

Facts about MoD St Athan (DGX):

• During the war a dummy airfield was built using wood and cardboard a few miles west of the original airfield and successful efforts were made to hide the proper field.
• Because of MoD St Athan's relatively low elevation of 163 feet, planes can take off or land at MoD St Athan 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.
• The station officially opened as RAF St Athan on 1 September 1938 and the first unit to take up residence was No 4 School of Technical Training.
• MoD St Athan (DGX) currently has only 1 runway.
• The two cadet passengers were cousins and were named as Katie Jo Davies, 15, and Nikitta Walters, 14.
• The closest airport to MoD St Athan (DGX) is Cardiff Airport (CWL), which is located only 4 miles (6 kilometers) E of DGX.
• St Athan also became the major RAF maintenance base for Vulcan, Victor, Buccaner, Phantom, Harrier, Tornado, Jaguar, Hawk and VC10 aircraft, originally under direct RAF control, but latterly under the auspices of the Defence Aviation Repair Agency.
• The furthest airport from MoD St Athan (DGX) is Dunedin International Airport (DUD), which is located 11,960 miles (19,248 kilometers) away in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand.
• The training to be carried out at St Athan was to be specialist phase 2 and phase 3 engineering courses of the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force.