Flying operations end at RAF Kinloss

STV – More than 70 years of military history are drawing to an end as the last regular flying operations take off from RAF Kinloss. The air base is being closed and converted into an army base under the UK Government’s defence cuts programme. The RAF is due to leave the Moray station in March [...]

Politicians proceed with caution

Forres Gazette – POLITICIANS have given a cautious welcome to the news RAF Kinloss is to become a British Army base. The area’s MP, MSPs, opposition candidate and community council members have said they are generally pleased about the decision. But concern has been expressed at the delay between the air force moving out and [...]

Alexander tells of hopes for jobless on visit to doomed air base

Scotsman – CHIEF Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander has praised a new initiative designed to help find new jobs for Moray workers who have lost their employment as a result of the closure of RAF Kinloss as a frontline air base. Mr Alexander, who is MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, yesterday visited [...]

Danny Alexander to visit RAF Kinloss

STV – Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander is to visit an RAF station in Moray which is to be turned into an army base. Army units will move to RAF Kinloss by about 2014-15. It was earmarked for closure as an air base in the strategic defence review last year. Mr Alexander, Lib Dem MP [...]

‘Army is worth less than RAF to communities’

Scotsman – PLANS to turn Scottish RAF bases into army barracks will cost the communities around them tens of millions of pounds a year, it has been claimed. The SNP has said that the value of an army barracks for the areas around Kinloss in Moray and Leuchars in North East Fife are worth less [...]

Moray business leaders meet John Swinney over RAF plan

BBC – Moray’s business leaders are set to meet Finance Secretary John Swinney to discuss the local economy in the wake of the defence review. RAF Lossiemouth was saved from closure under defence cuts which were announced on Monday. RAF Kinloss will shut as an air base and be taken over by the Army. Members [...]

The immediate needs of Forres and Kinloss cannot be ignored

STV Forres – Support for the Forres and Kinloss areas remains a priority in spite of the announced conversion of the RAF base for army use. It remains unclear this morning exactly how many troops are to be based at RAF Kinloss, with numbers up to 3,000 being suggested in the aftermath of yesterday’s announcement [...]

Liam Fox visits surviving Scottish RAF air base

BBC – Defence Secretary Liam Fox is to visit Lossiemouth in Moray, the day after it was confirmed it would become Scotland’s only surviving RAF base. The Typhoon jet fighter force which was to have been built up at RAF Leuchars in Fife will move to the Moray base. Leuchars and Kinloss, also in Moray, [...]

RAF Lossiemouth saved in defence review

BBC – Leuchars in Fife has lost its fight to retain its RAF base, with Lossiemouth in Moray becoming Scotland’s only such site. RAF Leuchars will become an army base, with its Typhoons leaving for Lossiemouth in 2013 and the army starting to move in later. Campaigners had been battling to keep both bases open. [...]

Army to be cut by 19,000 soldiers as reserves increase

BBC – The government is expected to confirm later a sizeable cut in the regular Army, as part of a radical overhaul of the armed forces. Defence Secretary Liam Fox said the number of reservists would be increased to around 30,000, following a model used in the US and Australia. The Army would be reduced [...]

Leuchars loses fight to be RAF’s home in Scotland

Scotsman – RAF Leuchars has lost its battle with RAF Lossiemouth to remian as the last operating RAF base in Scotland, The Scotsman has been told. But the Fife base will be handed over the the army to house troops and significant numbers of troops will also be based at RAF Kinloss from 2014 as [...]

RAF servicemen packing up for Isla

Forres Gazette – AN RAF Kinloss serviceman is undertaking a gruelling challenge, complete with pack on his back to raise cash and awareness of a form of childhood cancer. Hardy RAF Kinloss Regiment Corporal, Andy Souness (31) set off at midnight yesterday,on a gruelling 100 mile forced march around Moray and Ballater. He was carrying [...]

Anger as RAF Kinloss ‘gate guardian’ to be scrapped

Press and Journal – An iconic Nimrod MR2 which stands at the gates of RAF Kinloss will be scrapped. The imposing XV 240 aircraft, which stands at the far end of the airfield, has been dubbed “the gate guardian”. It was placed on the base to mark the plane’s significance to the area in September [...]

Nimrod U-turn blunder set to cost UK hundreds of millions

Herald – THE UK Government is considering plans to spend hundreds of millions of pounds on a replacement for the Nimrod spy planes that were axed last year. The Sunday Herald understands the Ministry Of Defence may buy Boeing P-8s from America to solve the capability gap left by the cancellation of the Nimrods – [...]

Scots MPs quiz Liam Fox over future of RAF bases

BBC – Defence Secretary Liam Fox will face questions from MPs later on the implications for Scotland of the UK government’s cuts in military spending. Squadron operations have already been disbanded at RAF Kinloss in Moray following a strategic defence review. Uncertainty remains over the future of RAF Leuchars and RAF Lossiemouth. Mr Fox is [...]

Pledge to ‘fight’ for RAF bases

BBC – Campaigners supporting Moray’s two RAF bases and their local communities have pledged to “fight all the way”. A decision on the future of RAF Lossiemouth is expected to be made by 19 July. The Moray Task Force vowed to pursue every avenue to save the base, and get a fair deal for the [...]

RAF Kinloss squadrons disbanded at final parade

BBC – The three flying squadrons at RAF Kinloss have been officially disbanded in a ceremony attended by the Duke of Edinburgh. The disbandment parade took place at the station, following the decision to end the squadron operations under the UK government’s defence review. The airfield at the Moray base will cease to operate after [...]

RAF Kinloss squadrons disbanded

BBC – The three flying squadrons at RAF Kinloss are being officially disbanded in a ceremony attended by the Duke of Edinburgh. The disbandment parade takes place at the station, following the decision to end the squadron operations under the UK government’s defence review. The airfield at the Moray base will cease to operate after [...]

PICTURES: RAF Kinloss disbandment parade

The servicemen and women from RAF Kinloss paraded through Forres today (24 May) for the last time before their nearby base closes.

Pictures: Susan and Marc Hindley

RAF Kinloss public support urged

BBC – Members of the public are being urged to turn out in force to pay tribute to three flying squadrons based at RAF Kinloss. About 100 personnel are expected to march through Forres on 24 May, two days before the squadrons are disbanded following the defence review. The airfield at the Moray base will [...]

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