Mock airfield
In the Second World War , fake airfields were created by the Allies as well as the Germans , which were supposed to fool the enemy aerial reconnaissance using aircraft, building and runway dummies and to protect real airfields in the vicinity from air raids .
background
The dummies on mock airfields were usually made almost entirely of wood, and the runway lighting was imitated with the help of simple pit lamps from mining. In order to simulate activities, the fake airfields were towed over the airfield during the day, while at night the movement of illuminated cars was supposed to create the impression of take-offs and landings. Another possibility of operating fake airfields was to simulate activities on formerly real airfields that were no longer used.
Most of the bogus airfields did not meet the expectations. On the one hand, this was due to the fact that during the day, when visibility was good, they were easy to see, at least from aircraft flying low. On the other hand, the problem arose at night that the runway lighting of real airfields was operated electrically and thus quickly switched off in the event of an attack. For a pilot of an attacking aircraft, who under certain circumstances could perceive both the real airfield and the bogus airfield during the approach, the bogus airport was thus easily recognizable as the one whose runway lighting did not go out or went out late. This fact was sometimes even used as a guide, which called into question the military use of bogus airfields.
In some cases, dummy bombs, so-called wooden bombs , were dropped by the Allies on German mock airfields .
During the Cold War , mock airfield systems no longer played a role, partly because of the improved aerial reconnaissance. Dummy weapons and aircraft are still widely used today for training purposes and to reduce one's own losses in an emergency. Wooden MiG-29 replicas, heated from the inside for visibility for thermal imaging cameras , were used in the Yugoslavia conflict . Other dummies were inflatable or, as in the old days, were improvised at short notice.
Former bogus airport locations
- Fake airport in Bezgenriet near Göppingen
- Mock airfield in Bornriethmoor near Faßberg in the district of Celle
- Mock airfield in Ellundfeld near Flensburg
- Fake airport on the Friedinger corridors near Frieding
- Mock airfield in Frösleefeld near Flensburg
- Mock airfield in Hepbach , near Markdorf
- Husum-Schwesing airfield : The unfinished airfield functioned as a dummy airfield until the end of the war.
- Mock airfield in Kleinkummerfeld near Neumünster
- Mock airfield on Langeoog
- Lentföhrden mock airfield near Kaltenkirchen
- Mock airfield at Obersten Holz near Fritzlar
- Mock airfield near Tannenhausen , a district of the city of Aurich
- Mock airfield in Schandelo , not far from the Dutch town of Venlo
- Mock airfield at Uhlhorn near Dötlingen
- Mock airfield at the Unterbacher See near Düsseldorf
- Vechtel airfield , near Bippen : In 1944 the dummy airfield there was converted into the Vechtel field airfield.
Even if more German bogus airfields are known from the time of the Second World War, the Allies also operated bogus airfields, for example at the Royal Air Force Station Boulmer in the English county of Northumberland .
Related topics
- Operation Fortitude - Allied deception operation during Operation Overlord , which used similar deception methods.
- Sham factory - dummy of the Krupp cast steel factory in Essen and Velbert.
- Sham installation - dummies of important military objectives and a. from Stuttgart and Karlsruhe.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ 300 years of the garrison town of Husum. 50 years of the Bundeswehr location , page 12; Retrieved on: June 3, 2017