Monument record TQ 56 SW 266 - Airfield Bombing Decoy Q48a

A Second World War 'Q-type' and 'K-type' bombing decoy located at Lullingstone (TQ 526 648). It was constructed to deflect enemy bombing from RAF Biggin Hill. The 'Q-type' decoy is referenced as being in use from 19-JUN-1940 to 12-AUG-1942, and the 'K-type' decoy from 13-MAR-1940 until its closure on 11-JUN-1942. (1)

By 1982 the Lullingstone decoy site was part of a golf course and no features of the decoy survive. (2)

The 'K-type' day decoy at Lullingstone was equipped with dummy Hurricane aircraft developed by the Green Brothers company. The 'K-type' decoy was kept open longer than most of the other day decoys, as it was doubling as a decoy for London. The NGR for the 'Q-type' and 'K-type' sites concords with that given in source 1. Lullingstone was the location of a 'Permanent Starfish' decoy for London. The NGR given for the 'Starfish' site is TQ 519 642. The two decoys were so closely related they were manned by the same personnel. (3)

<1> C S Dobinson, Twentieth century fortifications in England, volume 3. Bombing decoys of WWII : England's passive air defences, 1939-45 (Monograph). SKE58701.

<2> M J Anderton, 01/01/99, Twentieth Century Military Recording Project, WWII Bombing Decoy Sites (Unpublished document). SKE14468.

<3> Dobinson C., 01/01/00, Fields of Deception: Britain’s Bombing Decoys of World War II (Bibliographic reference). SKE15274.