As a result, Kinloss became surplus to RAF requirements and regular flying operations ceased on 31 July 2011.

On 26 July 2012 the RAF Ensign was lowered for the last time, and replaced by the flag of 39 Engineer Regiment, marking the establishment of Kinloss Barracks.

The area around Kinloss was surveyed in 1937 for the purposes of identifying land to establish a new flying training school for the Royal Air Force.

By August 1938, construction of three C-type hangars, support buildings and airmen's wooden hut accommodation was under-way, along with the laying out of three grass surfaced runways, each 3,301 ft (1,006 m) long.

Initially, many personnel who were posted to Kinloss were previously unaware of the station and were surprised at how far north it was located.

609 Squadron were temporarily based at Kinloss whilst tasked with defending vessels of the Home Fleet moored in Loch Ewe.

45 Maintenance Unit was established on 15 April 1940, the role of which was to store, modify and fit-out new aircraft before they were forwarded to front-line squadrons.

[8] The German invasion of Denmark and Norway in April 1940 led to an increase in operational activity at Kinloss and other Scottish airfields.

109 Squadron Whitleys from RAF Driffield returned the same month to undertake bombing missions in Norway, departing Kinloss in May.

19 OTU) was formed and tasked with training aircrews on heavy-bomber aircraft before deployment onto operational squadrons.

The unit was initially equipped with forty-eight Whitleys and sixteen Avro Ansons and the first training courses began in June 1940.

19 OTU, therefore a satellite station was constructed at Balnageith, to the south west of the nearby town of Forres.

To relieve pressure on space, two satellite landing grounds (SLG) were established to store aircraft off-site in August 1941.

This allowed a wide range of aircraft types to use Kinloss as a diversion airfield when their home stations further south were closed due to poor weather.

[13] Towards the end of 1944, the requirement for trained bomber crews reduced, resulting in RAF Forres closing in October of that year.

During the Cold War, Kinloss squadrons carried out anti-submarine duties, locating and shadowing Soviet naval units.

It was also prominent in Operation Snowdrop, supplying food to cut off villages and livestock fodder to isolated crofts in Scotland, during the winter of 1954 and 1955.

In 1972 and 1976, the new Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR.1 demonstrated its capabilities when it flew surveillance sorties over Iceland's disputed fishing limits, providing support for the Royal Navy and British trawlers in the Cod Wars.

In November 1980 two pilots, Royal Australian Air Force Flight Lieutenant Noel Anthony and RAF Flying Officer Stephen Belcher were killed when their Nimrod aircraft struck birds on take-off and crashed in woods to the east of Kinloss airfield.

The base was used for the 2005 Edinburgh and South Scotland Wing Air Cadet Annual Summer Camp.

In December 2009, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced the retirement of the Nimrod MR2 by March 2010, twelve months earlier than originally planned.

It was also announced that the in-service date of its replacement, the BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4, would be delayed until Autumn 2012, with the aircraft expected to start arriving at Kinloss in February 2010.

42(R) Squadron (the Operational Conversion Unit) were disbanded on 26 May 2011 at a ceremony attended by the station's Honorary Air Commodore, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

It coordinated a wide range of activities associated with SAR operations, including overland search planning, refuelling arrangements, airspace considerations, multi-agency communications, and co-ordination with other emergency services.

The team continued to operate from their existing purpose built base at Kinloss for over two years, until they moved into the former 'D' Flight No.

BAE Systems took on the contract in 2000, with FRA still provided maintenance services and the organisation becoming known as the Nimrod Support Group (NSG).

Kinloss was chosen due to its remote location, and hence easy access to potential landfill sites which would be largely undisturbed by the public.

[38] In 2004, with the development of a new water pipeline, a land quality assessment warned that sulphur mustard may be present within landfill and waste areas accessible to the public.

There are a number of anomalies present on the investigation area that have not been investigated, and in some areas it was not possible to conduct the geophysical survey due to heavy gorse coverHowever, no trace of chemical weapons agents was found during the land quality assessment, although material contaminated with radium was removed from land near the base in 2004.

[38] After the 2004 documents became public in May 2012, it emerged that the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) was investigating radioactive contamination at the site linked to the use of "glow in the dark paint" in Second World War aircraft.