Balado

RAF Balado Bridge is a former military airfield located 2mi west of Kinross, in central Scotland. It opened in 1942 as a satellite airfield to RAF Grangemouth, and closed in 1957. It has since served as a NATO satellite station, a microlight flying base, and as the venue for the T in the Park music festival.HistorySecond World WarRAF Balado Bridge opened on 30 March 1942. The airfield would have been named "RAF Kinross" however it was the custom not to name airfields with names that may be confused with somewhere else. In this case it may have been confused with RAF Kinloss, near Forres, which was the home to No. 19 OTU, a Bomber Command OTU flying Armstrong Whitworth Whitleys. No. 58 Operational Training Unit RAF (03/1942 - 06/1944) was primarily based at RAF Grangemouth. It used RAF Balado as a satellite, to ease the pressure on the airfield at Grangemouth.Balado Bridge had two runways, both made of concrete. The tower was of the Watch Office for Fighter Satellite Station type (it was updated throughout its life). There were two hangars, the larger of the two is a B1 type, designed by the engineers T Bedford as an aircraft repair shed, mainly for heavy bombers. This type first appeared in 1942 and was larger than the Bellman hangar which was also a temporary and transportable type. The smaller hangar was a Super Robin type. The Airfield was taken over by the War Department in November 1944.