RNAS Stretton - H.M.S.Blackcap

[elevation76]

H.M.S. BLACKCAP, R.N.A.S. STRETTON (South of Warrington, near Appleton Thorn)

Was throwing some old prints out last night when the attached photos fell out of one of the envelopes. I did attend a couple of RNAS Stretton 'open days' when I was a sprog, but I must have been given these many years ago!! Can anyone put a date to these, and the reason for the Royal visit? I am guessing at early 50's. (Date of overnight 17-18th May 1956 eventually found if you read on - Admin)

Images via Harry Tranter.

[viscount]

Before my time. However as Queen's Flight DH.114 Heron XH375 was handed over from DH to the RAF on 19.5.55, the photos cannot be before mid 1955 - which ruins the proposed early 50s as the date!

The under-wing serial XB401 belongs to a Grumman Avenger AS.4, the tail-wheel jets are Supermarine Attackers.

The Supermarine Attackers (according to wikipedia) entered service in 1951 and left front-line FAA service 1954 and the RNVR in 1957. The Attacker equipped 1831 Squadron RNVR at HMS Blackcap/RNAS Stretton until March 1957, alongside 1841 Sqdn with Avengers - which disbanded at the same time. Perhaps this double disbandment is the occasion shown. Stretton itself closed in 1958. Unfortunately I don't have the Air Britain RN Squadrons book to see if any clues lie there. I'm only assuming that the badge on the Attacker nose is that of 1831 Sqdn.

The time-frame is narrowed down to between May 1955 and March 1957. Of course this depends on the Queen's Flight Heron photo being on the same occasion as the Attacker photos!

I know airfield history author/researcher Dave Smith visits this site fairly regularly, maybe he has a suggestion as to the occasion/date?

Delighted you choose to share these pictures with us rather than put them back in an envelope. Many thanks Voodoo.

[davecalveley]

his royal philipness was away on a jolly from oct 56-feb 57....looks a bit tanned... so maybe the Stretton closing ceremony?

[johnoakes]

A rare bird the Attacker--nice to see even partial shots--another one that I missed.
Serves me right for being so civilian orientated. LOL

Very interestring photos of what the Labour candidate describes as parasites--it will all change with shari a law.LOL

[Biggles]

Superb quality pictures which to be honest should be handed to a RN Aviation Museum or similar archive but certainly not binned.

[elevation76]

Viscount, thanks for the very detailed post relating to my Stretton scans--most informative !!

[jbmack]

Re-visit by the Duke of Edinburgh to RNAS Stretton the excellent book published by Antrobus Heritage shows that the Duke arrived at 1730 hrs 17th May 1956 and departed at 1130 hrs on the 18th.
jbmack

[viscount]

Although not connected with the earlier posts, I've re-awakened this thread, having found mention of an air display at RNAS Stretton in 1951 in the Liverpool Daily Post of the period, while looking for information about a River Mersey flypast a few days earlier (see thread on the Liverpool Nostalgia section).

NAVY DAY at R.N. CAMP STRETTON
Saturday, 28th July 1951

The event took place on a hot, sunny weekend, with around 20,000 people attending. Aerobatics performed by Sea Furies, Firebrands, Vampires and a jet-propelled Attacker. Ground displays included extinguishing of an aircraft on fire and rescue of a dummy pilot.

Never before realised that there were public displays at RNAS Stretton, being before my time.

[jbmack]

I attended an open day/airdisplay in 1956 which I remember included quite a comprehensive assortment of RN aircraft also a display by a Hunter and Sabre of the RAF.Behind the hangars were a number of aircraft being cocooned in plastic , we were able to climb into the cockpits of some and people were busy trying to unscrew souveniers.
I used to have a list of aircraft which was given to me by a member of M.G.A.E but lost it years ago.
jbmack

[viscount]

A 'STRAY' RNAS STRETTON IMAGE

Although not connected to the earlier posts on this thread, to keep matters regarding Stretton together, a single photo in the Alan Pritchard collection depicts RNAS Stretton. Clearly one he acquired from someone else. VZ350 is a Sea Fury TT.20 (twin cockpits), with a Balliol behind and a Sea Prince in the distance. Date unknown, good shot though, just wish there were more! Interestingly my ancient copy of Ian Allan, Bruce Robertson's 'British Military Aircraft Serials 1912-1963 states that the serial VZ350 was carried by both a Vampire FB.5 and the Sea Fury T.20, being allocated twice in error!

[viscount]

INTRODUCTION TO THESE IMAGE POSTS OF AIRCRAFT AT RNAS STRETTON DURING THE 1950

Thanks to some 40+ images of aircraft at Stretton during the 1950s in the Collection of the late Don Stephens, I am delighted to be able to extend this thread further. On a 'Google' there are a couple of interesting 'then and now' web-sites relating to the Naval Air Station, but hardly anything abut the aircraft there in the '50s. After you have scrolled through the images here, you might wish to return to this post and follow-up some links to this and related topics.

H.M.S. Blackcap/R.N.A.S. Stretton was a Naval Air Station from during WWII until final closure on 4th November 1958. It was a Naval Air Yard servicing a wide range of aircraft types until the late '50s. The final long-term flying units were 1831 Auxiliary Squadron which operated Supermarine Attackers and 1841 Squadron with Avengers. Both disbanding on 10th March 1957. The final Squadron was formed in January 1958 to establish and build-up experience with Firefly target tug aircraft before transfer after a few weeks to Hal Far, Malta. The station was closed on 4th November 1958. Today the site is partly open, partly industrial estate, crossed by the M56 motorway and a former 'domestic' site is now Thorn Cross Prison. More detail on the links provided below.

The Air Station held annual air displays, which were a mecca for aviation enthusiasts at the time. As already noted there was a show on 28th July 1951, certainly a show on 25th July 1953, for which I have a number of images and another on 26th June 1955. There could well have been others, or perhaps the air show was held only every-other year, but details during the '50s are hard to come by. Unfortunately the Merseyside Group of Aviation Enthusiasts only came along in mid 1956. While their initial monthly newsheets do include airshow and visit lists for other local bases, they did not print any lists for Stretton visits. Actually, they did report an organised visit around RNAS Stretton on 17th May 1958, however as by then the base was well into run-down, they saw very little. Just 6 x Sea Venoms, a few familiar stored Airspeed Oxford aircraft in cocoons and Seafire SX232/105:VL with the fire section.

The Don Stephens Collection of several thousand prints is a gold-mine of aircraft photographs, mostly 1950 through to 1965. They are not just from Don's camera, many are the work of others, swopped, bought or sent to him as he compiled the first 2 editions of 'Wreck & Relics' in 1961 and 1963. While a few have full details of photographer, place, date, aircraft and unit on the back, the vast majority don't or just partial information. This makes acknowledging intellectual copyright a nightmare. On the internet I've found a handful of identical shots posted by Alan Scholefield - the two would have known each other well at the time. Where I have information, I'll caption due credit. To young aircraft spotters in the '50s 'copyright' meant absolutely nothing, sharing information was 'king'. That is why today I carefully lay credit to the 'Don Stephens Collection'. The image quality does vary, not surprising as it is likely that many were developed and printed at home. However, sharing these 70 year old photos to record the Cold-War past is more far important than both the print quality, or who took them all those years ago.

SOME INTERNET LINKS TO FOLLOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ON RNAS STRETTON

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RNAS_Stretton_(HMS_Blackcap) - basic facts, location, history, units etc

mywarrington.org/rnas-stretton-hms-blackcap/ - brief history, interesting aerial photo of the airfield location

www.historicaviationmilitary.com/stretton.html - many details, base map, lots of now (well 2013) photos. Interesting site

www.airhistory.net/pub/show.php?location_id=13225 - 25 images posted from the Alan Scholefield Collection featuring RNAS Stretton.

R.N.A.S. STRETTON/H.M.S. BLACKCAP AIRSHOW 25th JULY 1953

Hawker Sea Hawk F.1 WF158, uncoded so likely fresh out of a major overhaul at Stretton. The tail beyond is that of a Fairey Gannet.



Lockheed Neptune MR.1 WX547/N-C in the static park, sat on a rather wet apron with a Sea Balliol and Firefly beyond. Unit code 'C' shows this aircraft is with 237 OCU, likely based at RAF Kinloss.



Boulton Paul Sea Balliol, with the Neptune nose over on the right. WJ174 a Fairey Firefly T.7 and a Westland Wyvern beyond that.





Westland WS-51 Dragonfly HR.3 coded 709:GJ, sunk down to the axles in the rain softened ground in the lower photo. The tail is that of Swordfish NF385, while in the other photo out beyond the Hiller and glider is a Tiger Moth.





XB474 a Hiller HTE-2 (Hiller UH-12) a type normally associated with skis, rather than a wheeled undercarriage.



Without a serial evident, recognition of type of this military marked glider is beyond me, but a rounded fuselage and no wing struts points towards the Slingsby 34 Sky.





SX946 Avro 694 Lincoln B.2, R.A.F. The wet conditions again very evident.



G-AIVX Short S.44 Sealand amphibian. This aircraft was retained by Shorts as a demonstrator and a company hack. In the early '50s it called en route at Speke and Stretton on a number of occasions.



Supermarine Seafire, most likely a mark F.XVII. Although not dated, the wet conditions are a bit of a give-away!



Supermarine Attacker coded 163:ST

R.N.A.S. STRETTON/H.M.S. BLACKCAP AIRSHOW 26th JUNE 1955

Not so many attributed to this air display and all but one appear on the Alan Scholefield Stretton photo pages. The RAS images are all dated the day before the air display, which would explain the lack of people.



Fairey Firefly T.2, MB747/205:ST a duplicate of an Alan Scholefield image.



Although only WA5·· is visible, this image is very similar to one of Alan Scholefield's, who states it to be WA506 a Supermarine Attacker F.1



While this is in a similar position and can also be seen to be WA5··, an undated image, perhaps this one is on the air display Saturday, now displayed with the wing-tips turned up?



Westland Wyvern S.4 VZ76·/181 is another image also posted by Alan Scholefield, note a Sea Venom beyond.

PROBABLY AT AIR SHOWS, BUT DATE(S) NOT KNOWN

Westland Wyvern S.4 VZ758/188 with a Balliol beyond (Both these Wyverns known to have been at Stretton 5/54 until 9/56).



Almost certainly the Poulton Paul Sea Balliol T.21 behind the Wyvern image above, WP237/203:ST.



NM148 DH.82 Tiger Moth I. While there is no visual evidence that this at an air show, the proximity to the aircraft would suggest it could well be.

[viscount]

STORED AIRCRAFT AT RNAS STRETTON

Very few of these images are dated. It is thought the majority of these shots are on official visits, rather than during open days. While some are dated, others are not.



Another Alan Scholefield image, this one dated 11/53 and shows two partly stripped Blackburn Firebrand IVs, with one identified as EK658 and from the image one is coded 127.



Wreckage of an Airspeed Oxford and what I take to be a Fairey Firefly. This image and the one below, are dated 24th December 1954 (not a usual date for an airfield visit!). Don Stephens's own photo as he not only has the print but the negative too.



Two Airspeed Oxford aircraft in a thick, fully protective cocoon. An undated photo, these Oxfords were outside for a number of years, indeed still there in the May before the base closed in November 1958.



A Seafire F.XV PR368/51·:LP with no engine and wings fully extended. Print dated 5th March 1955 on the reverse.





Supermarine Spitfire F.XVII SX232/105:VL. A former Yeovilton, 764 Sqdn aircraft kept in the fire butts for rescue training. Top is dated 24th December 1954 (which is a rather unusual date for an airfield visit!), while the lower is dated 26th June 1955 - which puts it the day of an Air Show. It is known that this aircraft was still on the base in May 1958 as closure loomed.



Lines of Supermarine Seafire F.XVII aircraft in thick, full protective cocoons. This one is dated 25th June 1954 and there is both negative and print. Is the date an error for 25th July 1954 the Air Display?



Seafire F.XVII SP343 in external storage. The cocooned aircraft behind have contra-rotating props of the Seafire F.47. A Don Stephens photo with negative.



An undated shot of fairly clean, fresh looking Seafire F.XVII aircraft with SX358, SX243 and ··278 identifiable.



Another fairly fresh, clean Seafire F.XVII this one is SX358. Nothing at all on the reverse of this print, so only assumed to be at Stretton.



In a much lighter type of protective coating Seafire F.47 VP484, photo dated 13th June 1955. Note the wing tips don't fold over in a 'Z' fashion on the Seafire F.47s and that they are fitted with contra-rotating propellers powered by a Griffin engine.





Seafire F.47s VP443/152:BR and VP474/156:BR, neither image dated.









These four shots all dated 26th May 1955 and are Don Stephens's own with negatives. Feature Seafire F.47s VR96·/169:CU, VP454/155:BR with a light protective cocoon, VP482/158:BR and VR971/159:BR



VP443/152:BR Safire F.47, print dated 13th June 1955. Seafire F.XVII SX287 can be picked out too.





Two shots, both undated, of Sea Fury TT.20 VZ350. The assumption is that image wearing code 205:CW is the earlier one and that it is at Stretton, while the one looking clean and fresh, likely after overhaul is at Stretton. I'm well aware that the second image appears earlier on this thread. Repeated it here to show how the same photo can easily crop up from different sources. This aircraft went on to become D-COCO then later N20SF however crashed at Waukegan, Il on 16th December 1978, killing the new owner/pilot. The twisted remains where with the Chino Planes of Fame Museum for a while.





These two shots are both dated 5th March 1955 (same day as engineless Seafire PR368 a few shots up). Both prints have proved difficult to entirely clean off a myriad a black flecks from. A DH. Sea Venom and WV853/ - Hawker Sea Hawk.





I'm fairly certain that Mike Lewis and his magazine 'Rapide' are the origin of these two images of Supermarine Attacker FB.2 aircraft at Stretton. WZ502/163:ST of 718/1831 Squadron during hand-over of the aircraft May-June 1955 and WK341/811:ST. On a quick look through all the issues of 'Swift' and 'Rapide' but have yet to locate the article.

Well that is something in the region of 44 images discovered, cleaned, up/downloaded and captioned to add to the little out there on the internet regarding this once major Royal Naval Air Station in the North West.

[viscount]

I've failed to find a listing on the Internet of RNAS 'deck' and 'station' two-letter codes used in the 1950s. I'm well aware of CU = RNAS Culdrose and VL = RNAS Yeovilton, while clearly ST = RNAS Stretton. In the photos above I don't know a decode for the following stations. Can anyone help, either directly or by providing an internet link.

Thanks to a PM from member 'Sabre', from aero modelling sites the following additional information can be added to the captions.

                       BR (Seafires)         BR was the tail code for RNAS Bramcote in Warwickshire.  The Auxiliary unit there with
                                                Seafires was No.1833 Squadron.
                       CW (Sea Fury T.20)    CW was an alternative tail code for RNAS Culdrose (CU)
                       GJ (Dragonfly)        GJ was the tail code for RNAS Gosport
                       LP (Seafire)          LP was an alternative tail code for RNAS Lee-on-Solent (LS).

Also, a Westland Wyvern crash in Cheshire associated with Stretton can be found discussed on:

derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/43517/helsby-air-crash-early-1950s

If you have found this thread on a subject 'Google', then further photo threads relating to North West airfields that might be of interest:

OTHER 'PHOTO-RICH' THREADS ON N.W.A.N FORUM FEATURING DON STEPHENS'S COLLECTION IMAGES.

RAF Hooton, 610 & 611 Sqdns R.Aux.A.F., 1956 Air Display - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/6279
Two events, one weekend in September 1932 at Hooton Park - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/39884/

The final years of USAF Burtonwood, including all the A.F.Ds - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/11582

Final years of RAF Hawarden MU, BofB Displays 1954 and 1956 - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/22279/hawarden-battle-britain-displays-1956

1939-1945 Images of Speke Airport (Lockheeds, Rootes, RAF Speke and Liverpool City during World War II - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/41587/world-liverpool-city-airport-images

ALSO:

Liverpool Airport Air Displays 1933, 1956, 1962-1984 - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/130

General Indexes for NWAN Liverpool 'Nostalgia' threads:

Based operator histories, airport logs '56-74, photo threads, varied articles - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/3620/index-based-operator-histories-1946

Heavily illustrated type reviews for various aircraft types and some individual aircraft histories - derbosoft.proboards.com/thread/2839/index-aircraft-type-reviews-liverpool


As a quick reference for myself (as Admin), since November 2009 the thread has been visited 4,810 times before the addition of the two photo-posts above in late July 2023. Added late January 2024: this thread has certainly been linked from other aviation and local history groups as the 'visit count' now stands at 10,850 - so 6,000 visits in 6 months is a quite remarkable 1,000 visits per month. I suspect that Don Stephens who kept these prints safely throughout his lifetime would be quite astounded at the interest shown in them.

[Beemer]

A new member, Nicholas, (based in Italy) recently sent me some photos from their Family photo album featuring his fathers time at Stretton in the 1950's and meeting HRH Prince Philip. I hope you find them interesting as I did. Beemer.


Nicholas-album.50s- by Beemer328i, on Flickr


DoE.Stretton.Black-Cap.1956-7.Patrick.R.Nicholas by Beemer328i, on Flickr


DoE.Stretton.Skyraider.Black-Cap.1956-7.Patrick.R.Nicholas by Beemer328i, on Flickr


DoE.Stretton.Seahawk.MWRN.Lt.RN.Black-Cap.1956-7.Patrick.R.Nicholas by Beemer328i, on Flickr


Lt.Mike_Nicholas.Barracuda.Iceland.1945 by Beemer328i, on Flickr


Authors Mother in Seafire-- by Beemer328i, on Flickr


Seafire--Patrick Nicholas Author. by Beemer328i, on Flickr


Only surviving Swordfish by Beemer328i, on Flickr


Sea Hawk /477 by Beemer328i, on Flickr


Mitchell.stretton.accident by Beemer328i, on Flickr


Shorts Seamew by Beemer328i, on Flickr


MWRN.Xmas-card. Seahawk.DoE.Stretton.1956--7.Patrick.R.Nicholas by Beemer328i, on Flickr

[ronturner]

Brian and Brian,
Thanks for reawakening this thread with so much good stuff. A mixture of delight at seeing them and sadness at the way these machines were disposed of.
I never saw an Attacker in the flesh, as it were. Not even in a museum, if one exists.