A group of airmen takes to the skies, covering great distance (4)
I believe the answer is:
afar
'great distance' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'a group of airmen takes to the skies covering' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'far' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for afar that I've seen before include "Remote" , "beyond the horizon" , "Way-out" , "Distant parts" , "At a distance (literary)" .)