RAF 'operations' ground airshow

Spitfires and other historic planes were expected at Balado

The RAF has denied claims it was forced to cancel an airshow near Kinross because the force is overstretched.

The Spirit of Adventure had been due to take place at Balado at the end of the August.

As many as 50,000 people were expected to attend the display, which had been billed as the most spectacular in Scotland.

The RAF said "operational reasons" meant it could not spare the resources to make the show work.

The demonstration was to have featured a film about the RAF alongside displays from the Red Arrows and historic aircraft from the Battle of Britain, such as the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster.

Unavailability of resources

Wing Commander Rick Wakeman told the BBC Scotland news website: "We wanted to tell a story and put into context the RAF's operational capability alongside a big film.

"In between each section of the film we would have had live flying to show what we are doing for real in a conflict theatre.

"Some units and key individuals that formed the operational theatre are being deployed.

"Because some units are unavailable, we couldn't mount a detailed display and link operational flying into the ground pieces as originally envisaged.

"It meant we couldn't effectively tell the story.

"It is about routine unavailability of resources. It is a scheduling issue, not an overstretch issue."

The annual RAF Leuchars display is not taking place because of runway repairs.