What is a 'Q Site' ?
Well during WWII & as far as the mighty Luftwaffe were concerned, there were 2 operational airfields ( Macmerry & Drem ) also the training airfield at East Fortune which were all high on the list of military targets that East Lothian had to offer. The RAF anticipated attacks & measures were taken to decoy German bombers into harmlessly attacking surrogate airfields rather than the real thing.
Two types of decoy airfields were created: K Sites which mimicked airfields in daylight & Q Sites which did the same at night. No K Sites were built in East Lothian but 2 Q Sites were. Both were built to bemuse bombers attempting an attack. The 1st Q Site built above Whitekirk & running west to east in the same direction as the runways at Drem & the 2nd built at Halls Farm at the edge of the Lammermuir hills which is the one that went to search for.
Whitekirk Q Site.
In 1940 a Q Site was established to the north of Whitekirk, it ran from Pefferside in the east to Redside in the west & it proved successful. The Whitekirk Q Site included;
-22:35 on 13/July/1940, 2 H.E. bombs dropped in a field at Redside Farm.
-01:00 on 27/July/1940, 4 H.E. dropped in a hayfield at Stonelaws.
-01:00 on 4/August/1940, 1 H.E. bomb dropped on Seacliff Gardens.
It is possible that a further 8 bombs dropped at Stonelaws. Waughton & Newbyth Mains on the evening of 2/October/1941 & were aimed at the Whitekirk Q Site.
Halls Farm Q Site.
It was realised that the Whitekirk Q Site was situated too close to Whitekirk & for safety it was moved to a more isolated location on the foothills of the Lammermuirs. This Q Site was established on the Halls Farm & it too was successful in it's role. The operations & generator room which doubled as a bomb shelter & is all that remains today & this is what I went in search of. The Halls Farm Q Site which was also known as the Black Loch Q Site due to it's proximity to the Black Loch on the Halls Farm land. As I mentioned above this Q Site was equally successful in attracting bombs.
-25/August/1940, 7 H.E. bombs fell on a field belonging to the nearby Brunt Farm.
-25/August/1940, on the same morning 10 H.E. bombs fell on a field belonging to Woodhall Farm near Innerwick.
-2/September/1941, 1 bomb fell in a field a mile east of the Halls & another a half mile south of the Black Loch.
So to explain how a Q Site worked in the hours of darkness, it's purpose was to copy an airfield's lighting system for runways etc. Quite early on in the war a revolutionary lighting system had been developed at Drem by Wing Commander Richard Atcherely, when he discovered the great difficulty Hurricane & Spitfire pilots had when coming into land at night. The flare from the exhausts made it difficult to see ahead. His system named the 'Drem system' was employed on eighty bomber & twenty fighter stations by the end of 1941. Anyway enough of the history lessons this is meant to be a blog about my mountain biking travels so let's get on with the photos of the journey...
So heading off from Innerwick, I head for the hills for two reasons the first to pick up a Herring Road geocache that I missed out on when me & a work mate cycled the route last year & secondly I needed to gain elevation for reasons I will mention later in this post. Also a welcoming sight that spring is on it's way with the snowdrops & aconites smiling in the sunshine on a cold fresh windy day.
Climbing higher & higher up the pylon & wind turbine maintenance road then cutting off onto the old farm track to towards the ruin of Boonslie.
Just before arriving at the ruin I knew I had to cut across the moor to link up with the Herring Road, which turned out to be a bit of a struggle with the bike on my shoulders fighting against the strong southerly wind & ankle deep in wet bog land, but it's all part of the fun.
Now at the Herring Road looking downhill & the reason that I need to be of a lofty elevation is because the area location of the Q Site bunker was vague in it's whereabouts & I needed to be up high to figure out the lay of the land & try & see where a flattish spot would be for a decoy airfield as all the evidence that I had to go on was one photo from the bunker looking in an south easterly direction with a view of Blackcastle tower & the smaller tower next to it on the right, the trees around & pylons. And the literature that I read said that it's location was nestled on the Herring road, near the Chesters hill fort, near the Black Loch & that it was south east of the Halls farm, all of these locations cover a huge area & this is why I had to climb up into the hills for a better view. So scanning the landscape like a hawk I was able to eliminate or confirm the areas that I thought it could be as I had the maps out in the house trying to guess where it could be, but nothing compares to a real time view. So off I went to where I hoped it would be.
Admiring the braw colours of my surroundings after collecting the Herring Road geocache then heading downhill where the ground was saturated like a sponge with all the rain recently where I had an over the handle bar moment after my front wheel sinking into the saturated ground just a wee bit too deep !
Off the hill & a heading towards the Halls Farm so now nearly at where I hope the Q Site will be.
After speaking to the farmer at the farm he told me where the exact location was, I was almost right in my guess just on the opposite end of the field so I reckon I would of found it anyway.
The yellow flowers starting to appear on the gorse bushes & the western side of the Black Loch which extends around the corner of the hill.
Standing at the location where I thought the Q Site would be & there it is on the far side of the ploughed field, left of centre the little grass mound so I wasn't too far off target.
(Top)- This is the photograph that I had to go by to trace this location, a familiar view for me as the hill in the background is Blackcastle hill.
(Bottom)- My picture of the same view.
(Bottom)- My picture of the same view.
The two Q Sites in East Lothian both drew the attention of the Luftwaffe & were bombed, so you could say that they were both successful in their roles. Drem was not to escape & was targeted at least 3 times;
-1/November/1940, 4 H.E. bombs dropped on Fentonbarns Farm with Drem the likely target.
-6/May/1941, 3 H.E. bombs dropped between West Fenton & Gullane near the west end of Drem aerodrome.
-12/August/1942, 4 H.E. bombs were dropped within the airfield which caused slight damage to farm property.
So a question I cannot explain if the Q Sites were successful then why did they not build the daytime K Sites ? Surely this would have deviated the attacks on Drem during the hours of daylight ! Who knows !
So I hope you enjoyed the history lesson, I was amazed at how the Q Site structure was in perfect condition considering that it was built 70 years ago & the only reason there was water on the floor is because there are not doors to protect it from the elements, I'm glad that I went on this little field trip to search & find this interesting location amazing what is on your doorstep !
Thanks for looking & come back again soon for another East Lothian mountain biking adventure, cheers for now.
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