Halford Permanent Starfish site

Description of this historic site

The site of a fire based bombing decoy site from the Second World War known as a Starfish site. Night time fires were created to confuse enemy aircraft and draw them away from their real target. Documentary evidence gives this grid reference 2 km to the east of Halford.

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Notes about this historic site

1 A Starfish site (from Special Fire sites). Fire based decoys like this one were set up following the bombing of Coventry in November 1940 to protect urban sites. A variey of effects were devised to simulate fires and blazes such as those from incendiary bombs.
2 There is no evidence visible on an aerial photo from 1948 at the given grid reference.
3 Part of the Starfish decoy sites around Birmingham (SF2g). The site is referenced as being operational between 1942 and 1943, but could have been in use until late 1944. Aerial photography shows that by 1946 the site had been given over to agricultural use and no features of the decoy survive. Halford was one of eight ‘Starfish’ bombing decoy sites for Birmingham.
4 Partly schematic layout plan of the Strafish site at Halford to Air Ministry Drawing CTD 272A/41. Different types of fire groupings are showing, surrounded by circular firebreaks.