WWII Bombing Decoy Airfield ''K'' Site, Fulmodeston Road, Fulmodeston.
The first Bombing Decoy Airfields were known as ''K'' Sites, these were for day use and were set out on large fields, heath or warrens, sometimes on disused WWI Airfields. Props would include Dummy Aircraft, in this case Blenheim Aircraft were used at Fulmodeston to represent the ones used at RAF West Raynham, it would depend on which station was being protected. There would be mock Bomb Dumps and Fuel Stores, the surface would be levelled to look like a landing ground. Impressed civilian aircraft, such as de Havilland DH Moths, were employed on some Sites to resemble de Havilland Tiger Moth Military Training Aircraft. Large sheets of canvas were painted and laid on the ground to represent Hangars and in some cases, old and disused vehicles were set around the Site along with Gun Pits and Camouflage Nets. These 'Dummy Airfields' looked very realistic from the air. The crews had their own buildings and trucks. Most ''K'' Sites were closed down between 1942 to 1943 although a few were still in use in 1944.
Even at ground level they could deceive. 'A young lad, out for a walk with family and friends in the Summer of 1940, he spotted some Wellington Bombers dispersed on an Airfield near Thetford. For three hours they waited for one to start up and take-off. A few days later, his father came home laughing his head off and said “ We might well have waited for those planes to take off last Sunday, they were dummies !”
''Q'' Sites, which were sometimes on the same site as a ''K'' Site, but were for night use, from the air they would have looked like a Runway Flarepath and, for authenticity, had light patterns that included obstruction lights, these were red and placed on Hangars and other tall buildings to stop our aircraft landing on them by mistake. Later a bar of red lights was placed across the Flarepath and could be seen when on approach. This was added after a number of our own aircraft had attempted to land, sometimes with fatal consequences, some of the early Dummy Flarepaths were created using Gooseneck Flares.
The ''Q'' Site crew had a powerful Chance Light (similar to a small searchlight) on top of their Control Bunker, codenamed ''Scarecrow'', and this could be used to simulate aircraft taking off, landing and taxiing. Power was provided by generators within the Control Bunker, built to a similar design to a small Nissen Hut, but each one appeared to differ. Some Sites had a Control Bunker above ground whereas on others it was below ground, and some Sites had both types. One end was covered by tin sheeting, which was the Operations Room with the Runway Light Controls and a Telephone connected to the Headquarters Station, there were some basic comforts such as a Tortoiseshell stove and table, etc. The other room housed the Generator and was covered with steel sheeting or arched pre-formed concrete, feed pipes ran to the Generator from the fuel tank outside. Normally there were two 15in Ducts for air intake and one for the exhaust. Between the rooms there was a passageway that led outside, protected by a Blast Wall. There was another exit, sometimes vertical from the Operations Room. ''Q'' Sites were still being built for the RAF and USAAF in 1943 to 1944, with the last ones closing down at the end of the war.
In order to draw the enemy bombers from our towns and cities, Dummy Towns known as ''Starfish'' Sites were set up on open land between one and eight miles from the intended target. In daylight the equipment resembled chicken sheds, etc, but when ignited at night the boilers and fire baskets looked just like bombs exploding, incendiaries burning and buildings on fire, these effects could be made to last a number of hours. ''QL'' Lights were added to Starfish Sites but on their own sites, were designed so that at night they could look like factories, marshalling yards, shipyards, steelworks, etc. ''QL'' Lights ingeniously included welding flashes, railway signals (red and green) red railway crossing gate lights, tram car electrical flashes, standard lamps, and they could also be made to look like open skylights, doors and windows where someone carelessly had not complied with the Blackout regulations.
WWII Bombing Decoy Airfield ''K'' Site, Fulmodeston Road, Fulmodeston.
The first Bombing Decoy Airfields were known as ''K'' Sites, these were for day use and were set out on large fields, heath or warrens, sometimes on disused WWI Airfields. Props would include Dummy Aircraft, in this case Blenheim Aircraft were used at Fulmodeston to represent the ones used at RAF West Raynham, it would depend on which station was being protected. There would be mock Bomb Dumps and Fuel Stores, the surface would be levelled to look like a landing ground. Impressed civilian aircraft, such as de Havilland DH Moths, were employed on some Sites to resemble de Havilland Tiger Moth Military Training Aircraft. Large sheets of canvas were painted and laid on the ground to represent Hangars and in some cases, old and disused vehicles were set around the Site along with Gun Pits and Camouflage Nets. These 'Dummy Airfields' looked very realistic from the air. The crews had their own buildings and trucks. Most ''K'' Sites were closed down between 1942 to 1943 although a few were still in use in 1944.
Even at ground level they could deceive. 'A young lad, out for a walk with family and friends in the Summer of 1940, he spotted some Wellington Bombers dispersed on an Airfield near Thetford. For three hours they waited for one to start up and take-off. A few days later, his father came home laughing his head off and said “ We might well have waited for those planes to take off last Sunday, they were dummies !”
''Q'' Sites, which were sometimes on the same site as a ''K'' Site, but were for night use, from the air they would have looked like a Runway Flarepath and, for authenticity, had light patterns that included obstruction lights, these were red and placed on Hangars and other tall buildings to stop our aircraft landing on them by mistake. Later a bar of red lights was placed across the Flarepath and could be seen when on approach. This was added after a number of our own aircraft had attempted to land, sometimes with fatal consequences, some of the early Dummy Flarepaths were created using Gooseneck Flares.
The ''Q'' Site crew had a powerful Chance Light (similar to a small searchlight) on top of their Control Bunker, codenamed ''Scarecrow'', and this could be used to simulate aircraft taking off, landing and taxiing. Power was provided by generators within the Control Bunker, built to a similar design to a small Nissen Hut, but each one appeared to differ. Some Sites had a Control Bunker above ground whereas on others it was below ground, and some Sites had both types. One end was covered by tin sheeting, which was the Operations Room with the Runway Light Controls and a Telephone connected to the Headquarters Station, there were some basic comforts such as a Tortoiseshell stove and table, etc. The other room housed the Generator and was covered with steel sheeting or arched pre-formed concrete, feed pipes ran to the Generator from the fuel tank outside. Normally there were two 15in Ducts for air intake and one for the exhaust. Between the rooms there was a passageway that led outside, protected by a Blast Wall. There was another exit, sometimes vertical from the Operations Room. ''Q'' Sites were still being built for the RAF and USAAF in 1943 to 1944, with the last ones closing down at the end of the war.
In order to draw the enemy bombers from our towns and cities, Dummy Towns known as ''Starfish'' Sites were set up on open land between one and eight miles from the intended target. In daylight the equipment resembled chicken sheds, etc, but when ignited at night the boilers and fire baskets looked just like bombs exploding, incendiaries burning and buildings on fire, these effects could be made to last a number of hours. ''QL'' Lights were added to Starfish Sites but on their own sites, were designed so that at night they could look like factories, marshalling yards, shipyards, steelworks, etc. ''QL'' Lights ingeniously included welding flashes, railway signals (red and green) red railway crossing gate lights, tram car electrical flashes, standard lamps, and they could also be made to look like open skylights, doors and windows where someone carelessly had not complied with the Blackout regulations.