Nonstop flight route between Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada:
Departure Airport:
Arrival Airport:
Distance from LKZ to YSM:
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- About this route
- LKZ Airport Information
- YSM Airport Information
- Facts about LKZ
- Facts about YSM
- Map of Nearest Airports to LKZ
- List of Nearest Airports to LKZ
- Map of Furthest Airports from LKZ
- List of Furthest Airports from LKZ
- Map of Nearest Airports to YSM
- List of Nearest Airports to YSM
- Map of Furthest Airports from YSM
- List of Furthest Airports from YSM
About this route:
A direct, nonstop flight between RAF Lakenheath (LKZ), Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom and Fort Smith Airport (YSM), Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada would travel a Great Circle distance of 3,819 miles (or 6,146 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 RAF Lakenheath and Fort Smith Airport, 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 RAF Lakenheath and Fort Smith Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!
Departure Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | LKZ / EGUL |
Airport Name: | RAF Lakenheath |
Location: | Lakenheath, England, United Kingdom |
GPS Coordinates: | 52°24'29"N by 0°33'24"E |
Operator/Owner: | Ministry of Defence |
View all routes: | Routes from LKZ |
More Information: | LKZ Maps & Info |
Arrival Airport Information:
IATA / ICAO Codes: | YSM / CYSM |
Airport Name: | Fort Smith Airport |
Location: | Fort Smith, Northwest Territories, Canada |
GPS Coordinates: | 60°1'13"N by 111°57'42"W |
Operator/Owner: | Government of the Northwest Territories |
Airport Type: | Public |
Elevation: | 673 feet (205 meters) |
# of Runways: | 2 |
View all routes: | Routes from YSM |
More Information: | YSM Maps & Info |
Facts about RAF Lakenheath (LKZ):
- The 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath is the Statue of Liberty Wing, the only USAF wing with both a number and a name.
- 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.
- Control of RAF Lakenheath was allocated to Third Air Force at South Ruislip Air Station, which had command of SAC B-29 operations in England.
- The closest airport to RAF Lakenheath (LKZ) is RAF Mildenhall (MHZ), which is located only 4 miles (7 kilometers) SW of LKZ.
- Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union in Europe began as early as 1946.
- In April 1947, RAF Bomber Command returned to Lakenheath and had the runways repaired, resurfaced, and readied for operations by May 1948.
- 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.
- In 1940, the Air Ministry selected Lakenheath as an alternative for RAF Mildenhall and used it as a decoy airfield.
Facts about Fort Smith Airport (YSM):
- The furthest airport from Fort Smith Airport (YSM) is Port Alfred Airport (AFD), which is located 9,839 miles (15,834 kilometers) away in Port Alfred, South Africa.
- Fort Smith Airport (YSM) has 2 runways.
- Because of Fort Smith Airport's relatively low elevation of 673 feet, planes can take off or land at Fort Smith 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.
- The closest airport to Fort Smith Airport (YSM) is Fort Chipewyan Airport (YPY), which is located 92 miles (147 kilometers) SSE of YSM.