Bomber decoys and deception

[HReccon58]

Decoys and deception were extremely important already in WW2. Since it was almost impossible to stop the bombers from getting through the next best thing was to make them bomb the wrong target, preferably a fake one. Another way was to have the enemy guess wrong and divert fighter units to the wrong place. This was done in all theatres of war. The Q-sites in England, the "Scheinanlages" in Germany an even a lot in the US. I have made a video: Fake targets - Bomber decoys and deception with some lesser known facts that I hope you will enjoy! And you will probably teach me something new...:

 

[Hardlydank]

Fantastic video! I subbed
I learned a lot of new information

 

[fubar57]

A book in the similar vein...

 

[pbehn]

Under the leadership of the station commander, Group Captain Stanley Vincent, the airfield was camouflaged to resemble civil housing. Vincent had been concerned that camouflaging the airfield as open land would look too suspicious from the air; Northolt was surrounded by housing and so a large open area would draw attention. A fake stream was painted across the main runway while the hangars were decorated to look like houses and gardens.[19] The result was so effective that pilots flying to Northolt from other airfields often struggled to find it.[20]

 

[pbehn]

Some good stuff in here The Story of Camouflage During the Second World War

 

[SaparotRob]

Some good stuff in here The Story of Camouflage During the Second World War

Good stuff!

 

[pbehn]

Good stuff!

Its hard to tell really how it works because the photo is taken of what they are talking about, not the whole countryside. That picture of Northolt will look much less like an airfield when the planes take off and they close the hangar door. In most cases they were just buying some time, bombers don't want to stooge about looking for the target, they want it to be obvious to line up their run.

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting!

 

[Admiral Beez]

Article on same topic here..

Bamboo Bombers and Stone Tanks—Japanese Decoys Used in World War II

 

[nuuumannn]

This is a very interesting book on the subject.

Amazon product ASIN 0413776328

 

[FowellBox]

Re the Northolt picture. It looks as though this was taken pre-war and the Hurricanes have just been delivered. They are early ones with a 2 bladed prop and the large yellow rings on the wings soon disappeared for obvious reasons. Also, the aircraft have no squadron or individual codes.
It would be nice to see a later picture.
Brian