Starfish site facts for kids
Starfish sites were special places built during World War II to trick German bombers. They were designed to look like British cities that were on fire after being bombed. The main goal was to make enemy planes drop their bombs on empty countryside instead of real towns and cities.
These sites were part of a bigger plan started by Colonel John Turner. His first decoy sites, called "Q" Sites, were made to protect airfields and factories. After the city of Coventry was heavily bombed in November 1940, Colonel Turner was asked to create similar decoys for seven major cities.
Turner first called these new sites "Special Fire" or "SF" sites. But one of the first sites, near Bristol, was named "Starfish." This name then became popular for all the decoy sites. These sites were usually built about 4 miles (6.4 km) away from the city they were protecting, and at least 1 mile (1.6 km) from any other towns. They had many lights and fires, all controlled from a nearby hidden bunker. These lights and fires were arranged to look exactly like a city that had been hit by bombs. By the end of the war, there were 237 Starfish sites protecting 81 towns and cities across the country.
In 1992, experts looked closely at the original "Starfish" site in the Mendip Hills. They found no signs of bomb craters, meaning no bombs had actually hit there. Later studies showed that Starfish sites did work! It's believed that about 968 tons of bombs were dropped on these decoy sites instead of real targets.
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How the Decoys Started
When World War II began, the British government worried that Germany would bomb the UK. In September 1939, Colonel John Turner, an engineer, was asked to create many different decoys to fool enemy bombers, both day and night. At first, he worked on fake aircraft, airfields, and factories. These were called 'K' Sites. Turner also made night decoys, known as 'Q' Sites, which used lights on poles to look like an airfield.
Adding Fires to the Decoys
When the Germans started using incendiary (fire-starting) bombs, Turner added fires to his 'Q' Sites. He called these "Q-Fire" or "QF" sites. This made them look even more real. At first, these fires were simple. They were controlled from a concrete pillbox nearby. The idea was that after the first wave of bombers hit a real target, the decoy site would light up fires. This would make later waves of bombers think they were bombing the same place.
Special Fire Sites for Cities
After the heavy bombing of Coventry in November 1940, the decoy program grew to include towns and cities. The Air Ministry first ordered sites for Bristol, Crewe, Derby, London, Manchester, Middlesbrough, and Sheffield. These new "Special Fire" decoys were made to look like the first bombs dropped by German pathfinder planes. By January 23, 1941, there were 43 sites protecting 13 towns and cities. By March, over 100 sites were working. By the end of the war, 237 Starfish sites were protecting 81 different places.
One of the first decoy sites was built on Black Down in the Mendip Hills. It was called "Starfish," a name that came from Turner's original "SF" code. This site was built to protect the nearby city of Bristol. Eventually, the name "Starfish" was used for all the SF decoy sites. The Mendip Hills site used fires made of creosote and water to look like incendiary bombs exploding. It also used "glow boxes" to copy the look of Bristol's streets and railways. Light bulbs in these boxes were powered by generators run by petrol engines, hidden in two bunkers. Another Starfish site for Bristol was located in Yatton.
Glasgow was also protected by several Starfish sites on its surrounding hills. One decoy site was at Long Wood, outside Eaglesham. Here, you could see marks where basket fires once stood, surrounded by trenches to stop fires from spreading. A building near the site might have been the control bunker. Another site, called Craigmaddie, was on the Campsie Fells. It was a Starfish site combined with a QF/QL (Quick Light) site. Carrington Moss, near Manchester, was another important Starfish site.
As of the year 2000, there is a well-preserved control bunker for a Starfish and Quick Light (QL) site on Liddington Hill, looking over Swindon.
Did They Work?
An archaeological study in 1992 of the Mendip Hills site (the original "Starfish") did not find any bomb craters, even though some people thought there were. In his 2000 book, Fields of Deception: Britain's Bombing Decoys of World War II, historian Colin Dobinson looked at Colonel Turner's careful estimates. He suggested that Starfish decoys successfully tricked German bombers into dropping about 968 tons of bombs away from their real targets.
German Decoys
The Germans also built large night-time decoys. One famous example was the Krupp decoy site (called Kruppsche Nachtscheinanlage in German). This site was built to protect the important Krupp steel works in Essen.
See also
- R Force
