RNAS Stretton (HMS Blackcap)

RNAS Stretton (HMS *Blackcap*)
RNAS Stretton (HMS Blackcap)
Warrington, Cheshire in England
	The M56 now runs through former RNAS Stretton
	RNAS Stretton Shown within Cheshire RNAS Stretton RNAS Stretton (the United Kingdom)
Coordinates	53°20′42″N2°31′31″W / 53.34500°N 2.52528°W
Type	Royal Naval Air Station
Site information
Owner	Admiralty
Operator	Royal Navy
Controlled by	Fleet Air Arm
Site history
Built	1942
In use	1942-1958
Airfield information
Elevation	67 metres (220 ft) AMSL
Runways
02/20	1,024 metres (3,360 ft) Asphalt concrete
09/27	1,829 metres (6,001 ft) Asphalt concrete
15/33	1,024 metres (3,360 ft) Asphalt concrete

Last updated August 24, 2023

Royal Naval Air Station Stretton (RNAS Stretton, also known as HMS Blackcap), was an airfield situated in the village of Appleton Thorn, though named for the neighbouring village of Stretton, south of Warrington, in Cheshire, England. Although the main runway remains, the northerly part of the airfield is now HM Prison Thorn Cross, and an industrial estate. In the 1970s, the M56 motorway was built across the former air station.

The airfield was originally built in the Second World War for the RAF but when Luftwaffe tactics changed, it was surplus to requirements so command of the station was given to the Royal Navy in 1942. The airfield was used by the Royal Navy to ferry aircraft to aircraft carriers in the Irish Sea. Post war it was used as an aircraft maintenance, spares and disposal depot. After it was used by several RNAS squadrons in the 1950s, the air station was closed in November 1958.

Second World War

RNAS Stretton was originally planned as a Royal Air Force night-fighter station to protect Liverpool and Manchester from Luftwaffe air raids during the Second World War. But changes in German tactics meant that the airfield was not required, so it was transferred to the Admiralty on completion; three runways and numerous hangars had been built.

HMS Blackcap was commissioned on 1 June 1942 and forty-one Fleet Air Arm Squadrons were based there for varying periods, some aircraft being flown directly to and from aircraft carriers operating in the Irish Sea and other nearby waters.

Fairey Aviation used two large A1 (aircraft production) hangars on the northeast edge of the airfield for the modification, repair and flight-testing of Barracudas, Fireflies and Fulmars before they were dispatched to their operational squadrons. From 1944 HMS Blackcap was also used as an Aircraft Maintenance Yard, a large hangar complex being constructed to the northwest of the airfield for this activity.

On 31 May 1943 three WRNS ratings and three Naval Airmen were killed as the truck in which they were travelling lost control and overturned.^[1] The Wrens were returning to HMS Blackcap after a local dance. Five of the deceased were buried by their families in their home towns, WREN Anne McCormick, aged 29, was buried by the Royal Navy with full military honours, in the graveyard of the local church – St Cross Church, Appleton Thorn. The Manchester branch of the Fleet Air Arm Association continue to celebrate the life of Anne McCormick in the annual remembrance service held at St Cross Church in June.

There are a total of 11 'war graves' in St Cross churchyard, of personnel from HMS Blackcap, including those of two Free Dutch Naval Officers serving in the Fleet Air Arm.^[2]

Post-war operations

At the end of the war American Naval Aircraft were flown into Blackcap to be broken up for disposal. The Aircraft Maintenance Yard meant that the airfield continued to operate and, at its peak, handled one third of all Fleet Air Arm Aircraft and all its spare engines.

In 1947 the Fleet Air Arm decided to form Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Squadrons. The first to be based at Stretton was 1831 Naval Air Squadron, a fighter squadron, which was reformed here on 1 June 1947, initially equipped with Supermarine Seafire fighters and a single North American Harvard trainer.^[3]

It was joined on 18 August 1952 by 1841 Naval Air Squadron, an anti-submarine squadron equipped with the Fairey Firefly. Together, these Squadrons comprised the Fleet Air Arm's Northern Air Division which was formed at Stretton on 1 June 1952 and disbanded there on 10 March 1957 together with its constituent units.

767 Naval Air Squadron flying Supermarine Attackers was also based in Stretton. One notable incident included an Attacker FB Mk.1, WA535 which crashed on 5 February 1953 near Winwick, killing Commissioned Pilot RE Collingwood (aged 22). A second fatal accident took place on 10 November 1955 in an Attacker FB Mk2 WP281 172ST which crashed near RNAS Stretton while avoiding a collision with a Percival Sea Prince. The pilot was Lt Cmdr CJ Lavender DSC (aged 34). He is commemorated in the churchyard at Appleton Thorn.

The last squadron based at HMS Blackcap was 728B Naval Air Squadron, formed on 13 January 1958 to operate Fairey Firefly U.8 target drones. The squadron moved in February 1958 to HMS Falcon, Hal Far, Malta.^[4]

The airfield was closed on 4 November 1958.^[5]

Units

A number of units used the site:^[6]

No. 2 Ferry Flight RAF
15th Naval Fighter Wing
47th Naval Fighter Wing
718 Naval Air Squadron: 25 April–4 July 1955^[7]
728B Naval Air Squadron: 13 January–26 February 1958^[8]
767 Naval Air Squadron: 20 September 1952–31 March 1955^[9]
798 Naval Air Squadron: 20 April–30 July 1944^[10]
801 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
802 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
807 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
808 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
809 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
810 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
811 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
812 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
813 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
814 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
815 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
821 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
825 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
- 825X Naval Air Squadron^[11]
827 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
833 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
835 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
837 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
840 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
846 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
879 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
880 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
881 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
886 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
893 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
895 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
897 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
898 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1830 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1831 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1832 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1833 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1834 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1836 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1837 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1840 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1841 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]
1842 Naval Air Squadron ^[11]

Related Research Articles

810 Naval Air Squadron was a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm carrier based squadron formed on 3 April 1933 with the amalgamation of the 12 Blackburn Dart aircraft from 463 and 44 Flight Flights Royal Air Force to the Fleet Air Arm. The squadron saw action during the Second World War, the Suez Crisis and the Korean War.

RNAS Burscough, also known as HMS Ringtail, was a Fleet Air Arm (FAA) naval air station which was 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Burscough, Lancashire. The Admiralty acquired 650 acres (2.6 km²) of land in December 1942 and the airfield was built with four narrow runways and several hangars, being commissioned on 1 September 1943.

812 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the British Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active between 1933 and 1956, and saw service in both World War II and the Korean War.

706 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. Established as a fighter and torpedo-bomber training unit in Australia at the end of World War Two, it was briefly reformed as a helicopter squadron in the early 1950s, before becoming a helicopter training unit in 1962, and operating until 1998.

879 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm that was active during the Second World War. It was formed in 1942, and from 1943 was equipped with Supermarine Seafire fighters, operating mainly in the Mediterranean Sea. It took part in the Allied landings at Salerno, Italy in 1943 and Operation Dragoon, the Allied invasion of southern France. It was disbanded in 1944.

718 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy created on 15 July 1936 to serve as a Catapult Flight of the Fleet Air Arm. It was elevated to squadron status at the end of 1937, before being disbanded on 21 January 1940. It was re-formed on 5 June 1944 to operate as the Army Co-operation Naval Operational Training Unit before being disbanded again on 1 November 1945. On 23 August 1946 it was reformed for the third time to operate as a Seafire Conversion Squadron but was disbanded less than one year later, on 17 March 1947. On 25 April 1955, after almost a decade, the squadron was reformed once more to train RNVR on jet aircraft. Once this work was complete, it was disbanded for the final time on 31 December 1955.

730 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active between 1944 and 1945 as a communications squadron. The squadron was formed and operated out of RNAS Abbotsinch from April to November 1944, by that point in time it operated four types of aircraft. It moved to RNAS Ayr and while there gained two more aircraft types. For the first three months of 1945 a detachment operated out of RNAS Machrihanish, however, the squadron remained at RNAS Ayr until disbanding in August 1945.

731 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active between 1943 and 1945 and its sole role throughout its formation was a Deck Landing Control Officer training squadron. It was based out of RNAS East Haven in Scotland, as part of the Deck Landing Training School based there.

741 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially active, between 1943 and 1945 as an Observer Training Squadron at RNAS Arbroath. It reformed at RNAS St. Merryn, as an Operational Flying Training Unit in 1946.

746 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was active from 1942 through to 1946, formed as a Night Fighter Interception Unit at RNAS Lee-on-Solent. It operated out of various Royal Navy and Royal Air Force air bases, along with some deployments on Royal Navy escort aircraft carriers.

748 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially formed, at RNAS St Merryn, as a Fighter Pool Squadron, before becoming No. 10 Naval Operational Training Unit. The squadron moved to RNAS Henstridge in February 1944 and then onto RNAS Yeovilton in the March. In September 1944, 748 NAS moved to RNAS Dale, in Wales, remaining for just under twelve months, before moving back to RNAS St Merryn in August 1945, where it disbanded in February 1946. During its existence, the squadron was equipped with numerous aircraft and various marks, operated by the Fleet Air Arm.

761 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was formed at RNAS Yeovilton, as a Fleet Fighter School, in 1941. The squadron moved to RNAS Henstridge, in 1943, as part of the No. 2 Naval Air Fighter School. It remained at Henstridge and in this role, until January 1946, when the squadron disbanded.

764 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It initially formed in April 1940, at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, as an Advance Seaplane training Squadron. The Squadron moved to RAF Pembroke Dock in July 1940, and later to RNAS Lawrenny Ferry, in October 1941 and remaining there until the Squadron disbanded in November 1943. It reformed at RNAS Gosport, in February 1944, as the User Trials Unit, however, the Squadron was decommissioned for the second time in September 1945. 764 NAS reformed again, at RNAS Lossiemouth, in May 1953, where it became an Advanced Training Unit. It moved to RNAS Yeovilton in September 1953, where it received its first jet aircraft. In November 1954 the Squadron disbanded.

765 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It formed at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, in May 1939, as a Seaplane School and Pool squadron. The squadron moved to RNAS Sandbanks, in August 1940, where it undertook the Seaplane Flying Training Course Part I. Lieutenant Commander Wilson was appointed as dual officer in charge of the air base, and Commanding officer of 765 NAS. By the middle of 1943, dedicated Seaplane Training schools ended and the squadron disbanded in the October. 765 NAS reformed at RNAS Charlton Horethorne, in early February 1944, as a Travelling Recording Unit. The squadron moved to RNAS Lee-on-Solent in March, before moving to RNAS Worthy Down on one month later during April, then in May it moved to RNAS Stretton, were it remained during June.

767 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It was initially formed as a Deck Landing Squadron in 1939, when 811 Naval Air Squadron was renumbered 767 NAS, at RNAS Donibristle. A detachment went to Hyeres de la Palyvestre in the south of France, enabling training in fairer conditions. While here, the squadron took on an operational mission, with a bombing attack on the Italian port of Genoa. With the fall of France the squadron evacuated to Algeria, where it split. Part went to Malta, forming 830 Naval Air Squadron, the other part to HMS Ark Royal, with personnel returning to the UK via Gibraltar. The squadron regrouped at RNAS Arbroath and moved to the Deck Landing School at RNAS East Haven in 1943.

777 Naval Air Squadron was a Fleet Requirements Unit which was formed in West Africa during the Second World War.

790 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm.

1770 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. It formed at RNAS Yeovilton on 10 September 1943 as a two-seat fighter squadron and embarked on HMS Indefatigable in May 1944. It took part in several attacks on the German Battleship Tirpitz and other operations in Norwegian waters before sailing for the Far East. In 1945, as part of the British Pacific Fleet, the squadron took part in attacks on Sumatra, Sakishima Gunto and Formosa. It disembarked to Australia in June 1945 and then disbanded on 30 September 1945 at RAAF Maryborough.

1831 Naval Air Squadron was a Naval Air Squadron of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. The squadron was formed in 1943 in Rhode Island as a fighter squadron, before being disbanded, reformed and disbanded again after its return to Britain in 1946. It saw no combat during the Second World War.

References

Citations

↑ "In Memoriam – Wren Anne McCormick". Royal Navy Research Archive. Retrieved 4 April 2008.
↑ "Dutch War Graves Appleton Thorn" . Retrieved 25 November 2019.
↑ Williams Aeroplane Monthly December 1979, p. 627.
↑ Ferguson 2008, p. 202.
↑ Ferguson 2008, p. 203.
↑ "Stretton". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust . Retrieved 23 September 2021.
↑ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 39.
↑ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 52.
↑ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 85.
↑ Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 121.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 00.

Bibliography

Delve, Ken (2007). The Military Airfields of Britain Wales and West Midlands. Marlborough, Wiltshire UK: The Crowood Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-86126-917-1.
Ferguson, Aldon. Cheshire Airfields in the Second World War, Newbury, UK: Countryside Books, 2008. ISBN 978-1-85306-927-7.
Smith, David J., Action Stations – 3 – Wales & the North-West, Patrick Stephens, Cambridge, 1981, ISBN 0-85059-485-5
Sturtivant, R; Ballance, T (1994). The Squadrons of The Fleet Air Arm. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. ISBN 0-85130-223-8.
Williams, Ray. "The Navy's Northern Reservists: Part One". Aeroplane Monthly , December 1979, Vol. 7, No. 12. pp. 627–631

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "In Memoriam – Wren Anne McCormick". Royal Navy Research Archive. Retrieved 4 April 2008.

[2] "Dutch War Graves Appleton Thorn" . Retrieved 25 November 2019.

[Will_1_p627-3] Williams Aeroplane Monthly December 1979, p. 627.

[Ferg_p202-4] Ferguson 2008, p. 202.

[Ferg_p203-5] Ferguson 2008, p. 203.

[ABCT-6] "Stretton". Airfields of Britain Conservation Trust . Retrieved 23 September 2021.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantBallance199439-7] Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 39.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantBallance199452-8] Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 52.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantBallance199485-9] Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 85.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantBallance1994121-10] Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 121.

[FOOTNOTESturtivantBallance199400-11] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 Sturtivant & Ballance 1994, p. 00.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]