It was back in the mid-1990s that several members of the Glenrothes Aeromodelling Club felt that their own flying field was unsuitable for models with engines larger than 10cc. This led to the start of discussions and meetings that would result in the development of our own club. After a particular monthly club meeting, Barry Widley and Pat Baxter discussed finding a site where it was possible to safely fly large models. Pat Baxter who was a member of the Kinross and District Model Aircraft Club and already flew models at Balado airfield approached the owner of Balado airfield, Douglas Alexander, and asked if model flyers could expand the use of the disused runway. Douglas agreed and the first tentative steps towards developing a new club began.
In 1996, an inaugural meeting was held in Thornton. It was agreed that a new club should be formed and a committee was elected with Pat Baxter as chairman and Barry Widley as secretary. A name for the new club was discussed with Pat Baxter’s suggestion of Kinross Radio Model Flying Club (KRMFC) being adopted.
The disused runway had a concrete foundation with a tar surface that had seen better days and was broken in several places. It was decided, as one of the members had access to a JCB, to remove the tar surface completely and just use the concrete foundation. It was a major operation but eventually it gave the club a smooth surfaced 150m X 25m runway which was ideal for jets and large model aircraft.
A club opening event was planned and the first thing on the agenda was to find a patron. Pat Baxter happened to have a friend who was an RAF flying instructor at Balado during WW2 teaching advanced fighter tactics on nothing less than Spitfires!
His name was Sir Alan Smith. Sir Alan accepted Pat’s invitation and became KRMFC Patron.
Sir Alan was invited to open the Club’s inaugural Gala Air Show. He accepted, but then contacted Pat before the event and said that he had asked his friend Johnnie to open our air show in his place. Pat and Barry were hoping that it might be Air Vice Marshall Johnnie Johnson, the RAF’s highest scoring Spitfire ace – and it was! In fact, Sir Alan and Johnnie were famously Douglas Bader’s wingmen. Another guest that Sir Alan invited when he was unable to make an event was Bill Reid VC who was a Lancaster bomber pilot during WW2. sadly, very few of these brave men from WW2 are still with us.
The first air show was going to be big, so Pat and Barry arranged for the CAA to come along to the flying site and approve the air show layout. Pat being confirmed as flight line director. Due to the club’s special guests there was a lot of interest in the local newspapers and on local television news. All the neighbouring Air Training Corps (ATC) squadrons were recruited to assist with car parking.
It was a massive turnout! There were at least 1000 attendees with around 900 cars in the car park. The event was supported by Scottish Microlights, Scottish Gliding Union, Classic Motor Bikes and there were model shop trade stands and children’s shows. It was a very special weekend. KRMFC expanded to being the largest in Scotland with over 100 members, some of whom travelled significant distances to use the superb runway for turbine jets.
After the inaugural fly-in/gala, KRMFC continued to run a large event/show each year for four years. The club worked with the Scottish Tourist Board and local radio stations to broadcast these shows, and hence they were always well attended by spectators and visiting RC pilots as well as by talented pilots coming from all over Scotland. It was not unusual to have 100 aircraft on the flight line. These events were a great success, despite being a challenge to organise and run.
Club Members: Bill Harper with his Mosquito, Don Grant with his Hurricane and Ron Fraser with his Spitfire. Standing: Chairman Pat Baxter accepting the keys from Jamie Alexander with Douglas Alexander.
Dr Keith Mitchell with his Beaufighter. KRMFC Gala Airshow 1999
The Ghost Squadron, a team of model flyers formed in 1980 to promote the public awareness of large-scale model aircraft, attended one year. Unfortunately, the weather, which had been ideal when the site was set up, deteriorated into a full-scale gale and the Ghost squadron spent much of its time helping the organisers keep up the last standing Marquee as flying proved impossible. However, in other years the weather was much kinder and there were visits from Dr Keith Mitchell with his Beaufighter, Ted Allison with his Dragon Rapide, Doug Rigby with his quarter scale Bede and Jim Fox who gave a wonderful display with an early Sim jet powered plane. Evenings were catered for with a BBQ and bar in a marquee with entertainment provide by Tich Frier with his great humour and music. Everyone enjoyed the night time entertainment and great model flying. All this from a small club that had only just been formed.
Much credit must go to Pat Baxter and Barry Widley without whose vision this would never have happened
Unfortunately, Balado became the new site of the ‘T in the Park’ music festival from 1997 after moving from Strathclyde Park. This meant that flying was not possible for 3 months or more in the summer. Luckily, Barry Widley knew a farmer who farmed Balbedie Farm on the other side of Loch Leven and in 2001 managed to find a flying site on the farm for KRMFC, which could be used as an alternative to Balado. This worked well, but also created problems as some members preferred to fly at Balbedie on the grass runway while others preferred the concrete runway of Balado. While KRMFC carried on with the two flying sites for a couple of years, eventually the club divided in 2002 with Balbedie Aeromodelling Club being formed. “BAC” is still going strong today and is actually in the process of moving to a new flying site near Loch Leven’s Larder. With Balado becoming increasingly busier with the ‘T in the Park’ event it was decided, despite opposition from some members, to find a new site and not move to Balbedie. A site was offered at Upper Tillyrie near Milnathort. This site was on a slight hill, overlooked the M90, and had an overhead electrical cable, none of which was ideal for flying purposes. Despite developing the site, including having the overhead electric cables on the approach buried and also having the option to buy the field, after about two years, it was agreed to move away from Tillyrie. This was due to restrictions placed on the site by the council, which included only allowing IC flying twice a week.
KRMFC chairman at the time, Billy Orr, found the current KRMFC site at Kilduff, south west of Balado, on a comparatively level site and away from any motorway. Brian Sharp was responsible for laying out the site and he did a first-class job. The club moved there in August 2006 and has been there ever since.
When established at its current site the location was perfect with a wide clear expanse for unhindered flying and no restrictions, although, due to a BP pipeline running to the south-east of the flying site and the A977 to the north, flying takes place to the south rather than the north. This can be an issue in the winter months when the sun is low in the sky, though rarely causes a problem in the summer months.
Sadly, this status quo has altered in recent years. Flying was restricted slightly with the building of a chicken farm about 3 years ago to the east of the flying field, which means that IC aircraft have to be kept away from the main shed, especially when new chicks are being hatched to avoid disturbing them. Further restrictions were imposed when a dog walking park was built to the south-east less than 200 metres away from our main runway. Club members are now having to adapt to flying circuits to the west and there are plans to create a runway which runs south-west to north-east in an attempt to avoid overflying the dog park. So far, we have cultivated a good relationship with both neighbours and occasionally, dog walkers interested in what we are doing, come over to chat and watch our activities.
For over 17 years from 2007 until November 2024 Tom ‘Mario’ Wilson held the chairmanship of KRMFC and created the successful club that it is today. Many thanks are due to him for his sterling efforts. The chairmanship is now in Neil Gourlay’s capable hands with strong support from the Committee and many other club members as we adapt to changes in regulations, technology and social media….and move forward with whatever the future holds for our Club.