A Tale from WW II

In the early stages of WWII, British commanders realized that they were out-gunned by the German airforce. To help conceal their weakness and divert German bombers from invaluable British airfields, the Allied army created an elaborate system of camouflage and decoys.

Carpenters, artists, and painters built an impressive array of ships, aircraft, tanks, and airfields all from lumber, canvas, plaster, and chicken wire. Once complete, the decoys were placed away from key targets so enemy planes would spot, report, and attack them rather than targets of real value. In England, decoy airfields were attacked more than real ones and thousands of tons of German bombs were wasted on fake targets.

The Germans also used decoys, but not without problems. In his book Masquerade, writer Seymour Reit tells of one German failure that became legendary among RAF pilots:

The German "airfield", constructed with meticulous care, was made almost entirely of wood. There were wooden hangers, oil tanks, gun emplacement, trucks, and aircraft. The Germans took so long in building their wooden decoy that Allied photo experts had more than enough time to observe and report it. The day finally came when the decoy was finished, down to the last wooden plank. And early the following morning a lone [British] plane crossed the Channel, came in low, circled the field once, and dropped a large wooden bomb.

One can resist an intrusion of armies but not an idea whose time has come.
-- Victor Hugo