WWII dummy airfield, Heigham Holmes, Horsey

Summary

Site of Dummy Airfield- Despite persistent rumours of a secret airfield at this location, no clear evidence has been produced. Currently open fields. By their nature, little would remain of any use as an airfield, and such a use rests upon hearsay evidence in the main.

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Description

WW\II Dummy Airfield. By their nature, little would remain of any use as an airfield, and such a use rests upon hearsay evidence in the main. [SNA63028] [1]

There has been conjecture, “Norfolk Airfields and Airstrips - Part Six” (12), that Heigham Holmes was linked through the use of Lysander aircraft with the SOE’s operations in The Low Countries and the infamous “englandspiel”. Uncorroborated local comment supporting this association has helped to confuse matters and deepen the mystery further. E.g. Sightings of Lysander Aircraft (1). Indeed it is worth mentioning that Mr Huby Fairhead, a co- author of Norfolk Airfields and Airstrips provides no source/s for this statement, save perhaps two unnamed “locals”. However this is the only source for the NHER 25538 record on Heigham Holmes. It should be noted the length of the runway is quoted as 6,000 yds long (3),(12).
However it is clear from a wide variety of well respected and documented sources that all the agents and supplies involved in N section (The Low Countries) of SOE’s operations were parachuted (4),(5),(6),(8),(9) into the Low Countries from Whitley, Halifax or Hudson Aircraft (5). Indeed Lieutenant Colonel H J Giskes (the German officer controlling the England Game) insisted upon it (8)! By April 1943 the Germans controlled 18 radio channels back to London. These flights (138 Squadron) initially took off, for Holland, from Newmarket (7),(8) and later from Tempsford with the agents (Joes)(10) being brought from Station 43 (Audley End)(8) and then Station 61 (Gaynes Hall)(8).
The Lysander, whilst it was used successfully for ferrying agents to and from France (4) was never capable of, nor suitable for, parachuting duties (8). After 1940 Lysanders were used by Coastal Command on search-and-rescue missions. A Lysander was force landed near Mutford in 1941. (12, page 23). 309 Squadron (Polish) was based in Scotland and carried out Fighter-Reconnaissance duties, with Lysanders, during the war.
The use of the site, during the war, remains a mystery but it would have made an ideal “dummy” airfield, a use already proposed by a local (2).
(1) Wings over Westley by Frank Whitnall (2004) Page 40. Lysanders based at Westley were not used by the SOE.
(2) National Trust Report [1] on Heigham Holmes - Dummy Airfield
(3) Shuttleworth’s Lysander - Andy Sephton's article from Pilot Mag. 200 yd take off capability and landing run rarely exceeding 300 yards.
(4) “We landed by moonlight” – Hugh Verity (1978) ISBN 0 7110 0886 8.
Page 48 Halifax aircraft adapted for parachuting agents.
Page 136 Halifax drops – Holland.
Page 151 Author appointed Air Liason – Operations from Great Britain to Western Europe and Scandinavia, both parachuting and pick-ups.
Page 163 Parachuting – Halifax and Hudsons
Page 192 Holland – Heavily defended approaches to Germany. (Unsuitable for slow moving and vulnerable Lysanders)
(5) Tempsford Web Site Comprehensively documents all aircraft (126) and personnel, including (Joes) that failed to return on parachuting and supply dropping missions over Europe including Holland..
(6) Between Silk and Cyanide – A Code Maker’s War 1941 – 45 by Leo Marks
ISBN 978 0 7509 4835 7
Page 109 Agents dropped into Holland
Page 118 Supplies dropped into Holland
(7) Suffolk Airfields in the Second World War by Graham Smith (1995)
ISBN 1 85306 342 8
Page 206/7 Newmarket Heath link with SOE
Page 233 Tangmere – Final take-off airfield due to range of aircraft (Lysander)
(8) SOE in the Low Countries by M.R.D. Foot (Official S.O.E. Historian)
ISBN: 1-903608-04-X
Page 55/6 Unobtrusive landing and take-off (Lysanders) - this method was seldom available to SOE in the Low Countries
So strong and so dense in fact were the German AA defences that only a single SOE pick-up operation was attempted from the Low Countries, in November 1941. That was a failure; no more were mounted, in spite of efforts by N and T section staff to secure them.
Page 57 Audley End and Gaynes Hall
Page 108 ‘Catarrh’ – Taconis and Lauwers – Newmarket Racecourse
Page 109 Dropped them…. Near Ommen, East of Zwolle
Page 121 ‘Watercress – Dropped by Whitley – Never returned.
Page 122 Newmarket and Tempsford – Dropping Zone snow covered.
Page 221 Bomber Command displayed anxiety about special duties drops into the Netherlands
The ‘Dutch’ insisted on the SOE agents being dropped to a ' reception' committee.
(9) The Final Flight of Hudson FK790 -This aircraft was shot down over Holland, on the 6th July 1944
(10)Telegraph Obituary- Door de Graaf
He (Peter Tazelaar) was later celebrated for a mission in which he was dropped at the Dutch coast by submarine wearing a dinner jacket, managing to get past German patrols by pretending to be a drunken reveller (an incident said to have inspired the opening scene in the James Bond movie Goldfinger).
(11)TV Programme – Yesterday – Secret War – “The Dutch Disaster” – Screened 24th September 2011. Many references to the dropping of Agents and Supplies and filmed commentary from Leo Marks, Lauwers (8) and M. R. D Foot.
(12)Norfolk Airfields and Airstrips - Part Six compiled and edited by Huby Fairhead and Roy Tuffen - Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum publication
Heigham Holmes (Norfolk) TG 440205: From about 1940 to 1944 an RAF landing ground was located on the marshes known as Heigham Holmes. It appears all black SOE Lysanders were detached here during this period while based at Newmarket or Tempsford (138 or 161 Squadron ), possibly for operations into the Low Countries. The site at Heigham Holmes is well situated for security, being surrounded by water with only one crossing point at Martham Ferry. The waterways are; the River Thurne; Eelfleet Dyke; Blackfleet Broad; Meadow Dyke; Heigham Sound; Candle Dyke and Duck Broad; also numerous drainage dykes. Martham village lay about 1 ½ miles to the south. There is a tar and chipping road from the ferry to the landing ground (normal trackways/lokes across marshes in Norfolk are rubble). The grass landing strip was about 6,000 yards long, running north to south. On the east side of the strip were two RAF buildings (Nissen huts?) and a cluster of brick farm buildings. One local resident recalls seeing ‘all black’ aircraft from the site during the war, while another recalls one of the Lysanders landing in a field at Martham short of fuel. The pilot asked him to go to the landing ground to let them know where he was, as he was not allowed to leave the plane; fuel was brought to it and was then able to take off.
Norfolk HER 25538 records "The marshes at Heigham Holmes were used as a secret airfield between 1940 to 1944 by Special Operations Executive Lysanders ferrying agents to occupied Europe. The field was surrounded by water with only one access point. However, all evidence appears to have been cleared by the end of 1945, and nothing remains today"
See Below [1][2]

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