Eight miles north-east of Inverness and close to the small town of Fortrose on the south coast of the Black Isle lies the site of 42 Satellite Landing Ground known officially as RAF Black Isle but also called Blackstand .

SLGs were sited in some peculiar places but few as odd as Blackstand. Blackstand Farm which was situated on a plateau overlooking the Moray Firth. 

The site could not by any stretch of the imagination be described as level but nevertheless after an inspection the contractors started removing fences and stones, laying drainage, and grounding telephone wires on the nearby roads.
A 110yd runway was marked out and a headquarters planned in a requisitioned farm cottage. Until huts were built personnel were to be billeted in Fortrose.

Blackstand was intended as a storage area for 46 Beaufighters with a total capacity of between 50 and 60 aircraft.  With all aircraft stored in the open, camouflage was a problem especially as SLGs were supposed to be secret, and had to be referred to as airstrips. No control tower was built and not even a wind sock was allowed. When aircraft were due to land an airman burnt some gunpowder in a stove to show the wind direction.

The spring of 1942 saw work starting on hard standings for medium sized aircraft but some of these hard standings were sloping thus causing aircraft towing accidents.

When an aircraft was coming in to land at Blackstand an airman had first to run out and chase off the sheep and cattle, but this was a minor hazard. Pilots intending to use the strip were encouraged to walk over it beforehand for familiarisation purposes. New pilots obviously had problems. Regular users made a habit of landing up hill regardless of the wind direction. By aiming the aircraft from the bottom corner diagonally to the Top far corner the worst that could happen was a sideways slip with the nose over the boundary fence.