RNAS Stretton, Cheshire

This report was first named in line with the new guidelines as "Mario Kart Test  Track" on Ukurbex.com, the idea was not to name sites in order to protect them from vandals, to be honest this place is past saving and the true history is at the bottom of the report.

Visited with the Urban Spaceman on one delightfully damp January Sunday afternoon, after a local tried to put us off with the “you don’t want to go in there, its full of …. (insert description of mobile thieving metal collecting scumbags).

This place has an amazing history, originally built by the Nintendo Games Company back in early 1990 in order to design the orginal Super Mario Kart for the SNES.

Mario, Yoshi and the gang spent nearly two years at the track whilst the game was developed into the game we all know and love today.

The site also contains underground bunkers which had been installed for the protection of the designers from the prototype banana and shell weapons following a series of fatal accidents involving the oversized banana weaponry.

The building itself is a shadow of its former self and the many power-up tiles from around the track have been also been removed.

Anyway prepare to be amazed !



It does get better, promise.....

Flag !






Ok, it’s a dump




Are you bored yet ??





















antibanana bunker







Urban Spaceman got so bored he got his wand out






Sorry this place was terrible and I hang my head in shame.




Anyway here is some real history on the site (from Wikipedia )

RNAS Stretton was originally planned as a RAF night fighter station to protect Liverpool and Manchester from Luftwaffe air raids during World War II. However 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 here for varying periods with 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 despatched 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.

The airfield closed in 1958 and was later used by Shell for testing high performance oil and fuels.

*Updated 12th June 2012 with aerial photo*