Nonstop flight route between Vatry, France and Fairford, England, United Kingdom:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Châlons Vatry Airport (XCR), Vatry, France and RAF Fairford (FFD), Fairford, England, United Kingdom would travel a Great Circle distance of 332 miles (or 535 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 Châlons Vatry Airport and RAF Fairford, the route shown on this map most likely still appears to be a straight line.

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Châlons Vatry Airport (XCR):

• Châlons Vatry Airport (XCR) currently has only 1 runway.
• The airport is 586 feet above mean sea level.
• The closest airport to Châlons Vatry Airport (XCR) is Troyes - Barberey Airport (QYR), which is located 32 miles (52 kilometers) SSW of XCR.
• Châlons Vatry Airport's origins began in 1950 when, with the Cold War, NATO faced several problems when attempting to solve the air power survival equation.
• The furthest airport from Châlons Vatry Airport (XCR) is Chatham Islands (CHT), which is nearly antipodal to Châlons Vatry Airport (meaning Châlons Vatry Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Chatham Islands), and is located 12,092 miles (19,461 kilometers) away in Waitangi, Chatham Islands, New Zealand.
• Because of Châlons Vatry Airport's relatively low elevation of 586 feet, planes can take off or land at Châlons Vatry 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.
• For many years, Vatry Air Base was under the control of the French Air Force and used for a training facility.

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.
• In 1950, as a result of the beginning of the Cold War, the airfield was transferred to the U.S.
• RAF Fairford was the only TransOceanic Abort Landing site for NASA's Space Shuttle in the UK.
• 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.
• Due to the deteriorating airfield facilities and its unique NATO heavy bomber mission, RAF Fairford underwent a $100 million upgrade of its runway and fuel systems in the largest NATO funded airfield construction project within a NATO country since the end of the Cold War.
• Royal Air Force Fairford or more simply RAF Fairford is a Royal Air Force station in Gloucestershire, England which is currently a standby airfield and therefore not in everyday use.
• 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.