RNAS Stretton ( HMS Blackcap ) Royal Naval Air Station Stretton ( HMS " Blackcap " ) , was an airfield in the village of Appleton Thorn , close to the village of Stretton , south of Warrington , in Cheshire , England . The airfield was southwest of junction 9 of the present - day M56 motorway . World War II . 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 . 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 , equipped with Supermarine Seafire fighters and a single North American Harvard trainer . It was joined on 18 August 1952 by 1841 Naval Air Squadron , an anti - submarine squadron . Together , these Squadrons comprised the Northern Air Division which was formed at Stretton on 1 June 1952 and disbanded on 10 March 1957 together with its constituent units . 767 Naval Air Squadron who operated Supermarine Attacker s was also based in Stretton . One notable incident included an Attacker FB Mk . 1 , WA535 which crashed on 5 February 1953 near Winwick , fatally killing the pilot Mr Roy Edwin 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 Charles James 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 D . 8 target drone s . The squadron moved in February 1958 to HMS " Falcon " , Hal Far , Malta . The airfield was closed on 4 November 1958 . Personnel . 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 . The Wrens were returning from a local dance to the wrennery at HMS " Blackcap " . Five of the deceased were buried by their families in their home towns , WREN Anne McCormick , aged 17 , 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 .