N Lincs Decoys & Misc Sites in WW2

HUMBER STARFISH (By Flt Lt John Rennison (Ret’d))

No matter what the size of the marine life found in the environs of the Humber today, it would certainly not compare in size and ferocity with the starfish found in the area during 1940 to 1945. They were mainly nocturnal creatures that could be lit up like a Christmas tree one moment and be spouting flame the next. They were however, not of the natural world they were in fact man-made, the creation of an enigmatic yet colourful world war two character, Colonel Sir John Turner.

Shortly after the outbreak of the war, in October 1939, Sir John was appointed by the Prime-Minister to take charge of wartime decoy and deception operations. He rapidly came to the conclusion that much of the expertise in the art of deception was vested in the film industry. He set up his headquarters in the Sound City Film Studios at Shepperton in Surrey and basically commandeered the staff to help him plan and create a huge range of deceptions that would be used throughout the war. They were to prove their value time and time again from the dark days of 1940 through to the brilliant schemes that deceived the enemy on the run up to D-Day. The great fear in 1940 was that the Lufwaffe would bomb Britain into defeat within weeks and that a full-scale invasion would follow soon after. The RAF’s magnificent ‘few’ were soon to make Hitler think again about invasion, but in the mean-time Col Turner had to do his best to reduce the effect of the expected ‘Blitz’. He began to concoct a series of schemes to create decoys that would lure the enemy bombers away from their real targets; the ports, factories, railways junctions, military bases and even the streets of our cities and towns. The decoy sites were given special designators to describe their capabilities, some being known as ‘K’ or ‘Q’ sites, whilst others were designated as ‘SF’ (short for Special Fire) or ‘Starfish’ sites.

Throughout 1940 many types and variations of these decoys were constructed; some were intended to simulate airfields both by day (K sites) and night (Q Sites); others simulated dock-yards, railway stations and junctions, factories, oil depots and even street patterns QF and QL sites). The staff at Shepperton devised many ingenious effects to create an illusion of realism when viewed from the air particularly at night.

By clever use of lighting it was possible to make it appear that the ‘blackout’ had failed and that a factory skylight or a door had been left open or ajar. The glow of a furnace could be simulated by using a row of 8 or 10 100 watt amber lamps fitted to frame and positioned face down to illuminate a patch of light earth or sand below. The lamps were screened from the air and fitted with dimmers to vary the intensity of the glow. Dock lighting was reproduced together with shapes to emulate jetties and wharfs. Lights were arranged to reflect upon the water. Other lights were arranged to flicker or flash at irregular intervals. Some sites were simulations in miniature (a deception often not immediately discernable from height). This was the case with Hull docks, which were simulated at a site located at Cherry Cobb Sands in Holderness. Lights were positioned on poles to shine onto pools that had been cut into symmetrical shapes to resemble the dock area (the rough O/S reference for the site is TA210220).

In the main Starfish decoys (SF Sites) simulated urban areas or industrial facilities. They often had elaborate arrangements to simulate a bombed and burning target. The standard way of creating a fire effect was to use a series of ‘fire baskets’. These consisted of a wooden box shaped frames with wire netting around them. The boxes would be filled with creosote soaked wood off-cuts and other similar flammable material. Roofing felt would be tacked to the top to keep the contents dry. On site they would be mounted on metal frames of varying heights and placed in patterns and clusters. A detonator or flash-bag would be attached to the bottom of the basket. In an emergency the basket could be lit by hand (a somewhat dangerous undertaking particularly if bombs were dropping at the time!), but it was usually electrically ignited. Typically, there would also be a trough full of oil, which would lit by electrically firing a detonator attached to a ‘wick’. The wick normally consisted of a wire netting tube full of oil soaked rags. Boiling oil fires were also used, these consisted of a large steel trough on top of which was set a metal tray. A coal fire was lit in the trough and oil was fed into the tray at intervals. After about fifteen to twenty minutes the oil in the tray would begin to boil. At that point combinations of two -gallon flushes of water or six gallon flushes of oil would be released onto the tray. The effect of the oil and water mixing was a violent explosion, simulating the detonation of a bomb, with flames reaching up to forty feet into the air.

‘Starfish’ was the code name given to special fire sites operated by 80 Wing of the RAF, which had its headquarters at Radlett in Hertfordshire. When warned of a major attack developing, the Starfish Controller at Radlett would decide which sites, if any, should be lit. The sites normally had a complement of 24 men and each one had a control bunker and a Nissen or similar hut. There were Minor, Short, Full, Medium and Temporary Starfish. There were Starfish type decoys in the Humber area to protect Scunthorpe and its steelworks, Hull and its vital facilities and of course Immingham. There were also decoy airfields in the area to draw enemy attacks away from airfields such as Elsham Wolds and Goxhill. Some sites were a combination of Starfish and Q Site, with the capability of creating illusions through the use of both lights and fire and explosion. The unique contribution made by the decoys and the staff of Col Turner’s Department went unrecognised for long time after the war. Only in recent years has information become available about the sites themselves and the men and women who designed, constructed and manned them. Those who manned the sites were certainly putting themselves in harm’s way by literally inviting the enemy to attack them. By the end of the war, Q and Starfish sites had been attacked more than 800 times with an estimated total of some 1791 tonnes of bombs having been dropped on them. Bombs that would other wise have fallen on real streets, houses, factories and so on, causing large numbers of casualties and much damage.

Starfish decoys in the Scunthorpe area were to be found at Risby (Ref SE929158), Twigmoor (Ref SE921058) and Brumby (Ref SE849096). Close to Hull, decoys could be found at Gamstead (Ref TA139340), Bilton (Ref TA161317), Paull (Ref TA1818240) and Aldbrough (Ref TA258373). Other sites in our area were located at East Halton (Oil Fire Decoy – Ref TA137229), Cadney (Airfield Decoy – Ref TA015050) and Burnham (Airfield Decoy – Ref TA044177). There was also a large decoy site located close to Grimsby (extending from Ref TA331061 to TA340048). 

Whilst vestiges of these sites may remain, in many cases they will be located on privately owned land. If you decide to go starfish hunting, ensure that you have appropriate permission before visiting a site. 

John Rennison
Last updated in 1/2020

This article was published in Scunthorpe Telegraph’s ‘Nostalgia’ magazine circa 2008

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WWII DECOY SITES IN NORTH LINCOLNSHIRE.

BURNHAM	Decoy site ‘A’ for Goxhill airfield OS Ref TA044177
CADNEY	Decoy site ‘A’ for Kirton Lindsey. Initially allocated to cover Hibaldstow airfield and later transferred to Kirton OS Ref TA015050 opened in December 1941.
GREAT LIMBER	Decoy site for Elsham Wolds OS Ref TA140074
OWSTON FERRY	Decoy site for Finningley OS Ref SE792012
SOUTH FERRIBY	Decoy site ‘B’ for Elsham Wolds airfield OS Ref TA000203
THORNTON-LE-MOOR	Decoy site for Hibaldstow, later transferred to Kirton Lindsey (Site ‘B’).Opened in December 1941.OS Ref TF029956.

WWII QUICK OIL FIRE (QF Type) DECOYS

EAST HALTON

Decoy site for Killingholm port/refinery OS Ref TA137229

WWII STARFISH (SF Series) DECOYS

BRUMBY	Decoy site ‘C’ for Scunthorpe steelworks OS Ref SE849096
RISBY	Decoy site ‘A’ for Scunthorpe steelworks OS Ref SE929158 (co-located with C Series decoy C23 ‘a’ – see below)
TWIGMOOR	Decoy site ‘B’ for Scunthorpe steelworks OS Ref SE921058 (co-located with C Series decoy C23’b’ – see below)

WW II CIVIL (C Series) DECOYS

RISBY	Civil Decoy site for Scunthorpe area co-located with the Starfish decoy Risby ‘A’ – see above) OS Ref SE929158
TWIGMOOR	Civil Decoy site for Scunthorpe area co-located with Starfish decoy Twigmoor ‘B’ – see above) OS Ref SE921058

WW II NAVAL DECOYS

IMMINGHAM RANGES

Decoy site for the Humber, Code ‘IMI’ This was an SF/QL site OS Ref TA235136

MISCELLANEOUS SITES OF INTEREST

ALKBOROUGH	During WW2 a Bombing Range 12 k’s north of Scunthorpe on marshland adjoining the River Humber OS Ref SK883236 – controlled by Elsham Wolds airfield – closed 19/10/1945. There were two manned ‘Observation Towers’ (one at 53.6897N 0.6620W and one at 53.6977N 0.6551W), remains of both can be reached by the public footpaths. Smoke bombs were used and dropped on a chalk marker out on the flats. Note; The Humber Flats Flood Relief Scheme uncovered a fair amount of WW2 material in the 1990’s.
BROUGHTON WOODS	During WW2, was home to 209 MU (4/1943-2/1946) as an Air Stores park, it was part of 40 Gp and was used for the storage of bombs for nearby Bomber units and was parented by Elsham Wolds. The unit’s ‘HQ’ was the nearby Dog & Rat Public House. The location name was eventually (1943) changed to Brigg to avoid confusion.
CASTLETHORPE CAMP	A basic PoW Camp consisting of some 39 huts on the north-western boundary of Castlethorpe Covert (near Brigg) just north of Castlethorpe Hall.
HUMBERSTON	First used as a W/T Station in the early 1900s and was in use as such throughout the first war. It was bombed in September 1916 by the German airship L.22. The site was possibly the barracks for troops manning the Humber Forts (the fort at Haile Sands and Bull Fort). It later during WW2 (Jan 1941) became a Chain Home Low (radar) site. The military buildings were used after WW2 by the YMCA and although largely disused are now, are owned by the Tertia Trust.
KIRMINGTON CAMP	Mainly agricultural PoW camp – its precise location is unknown. It is believed to have been on the site of the former RAF Kirmington.
PINGLEY CAMP	located at Bigby Highroad, Brigg. This was a standard (low grade) agricultural PoW camp (it housed mainly Italian PoWs). It is close to a modern garden centre and is now the site of a housing estate.

Compiled by Flt Lt J P Rennison RAFVR (Retd)
Last Reviewed in 1/2020