Undiscovered Scotland

 

We've see the word "microhistory" defined as "the intensive historical investigation of a well-defined smaller unit of research". By focusing down on a narrow subject, whether it be an individual, a village, a family, or on the occasion of the first use of the word, a single event in a much larger battle, it is possible to ask "large questions in small places", to draw lessons that reach conclusions that might be lost or overlooked in large scale histories.

"The Dummy Drome: Stories from a WW2 Decoy Aerodrome in the North of Scotland by Rob More" is a example of just how good microhistory can be. It takes as its subject an aerodrome that never really existed in a place few have heard of and examines it from every possible angle. The result is a fascinating - and beautifully presented and illustrated - account of the decoy airfield placed as Sarclet on the east coast of Caithness, south of Wick. The story of this particular decoy aerodrome also helps illuminate the largely forgotten wider story of over 200 similar sites developed at around the same time, the majority of which are also largely forgotten and lost to history. This is a book we'd wholeheartedly recommend to anyone with an interest in World War Two history or in the less-known corners of northern Scotland.

You get a sense of the breadth of the book's coverage from the publisher's description of it: "The Dummy Drome is a well-researched story about an aerodrome that wasn't really there – this was RAF Wick’s decoy airfield near Sarclet, by Thrumster in Caithness. The featureless landscape was grazed by sheep finding what sustenance they could and there were no people or structures in sight. Even the ‘solid ground’ was only an illusion: a wide expanse of heather covered a great depth of peat bog that couldn’t be ploughed for fear machinery and animals would sink. This deception was exactly what was needed – an illusion dreamed up by military strategists and cinema-set designers in faraway offices. For a brief period it was busy, active and vital, full of people and buildings with three broad and very obvious tracks with lights and noise. It was very much on the map, specifically designed to draw attention to itself."

"The Air Ministry cartographers who made it look larger than it really was transposed the design of a real aerodrome onto a blank area on the map of northern Scotland. The planners added standard building designs in the right places. Huge quantities of raw materials were brought to the site and construction workers created runways that a plane could not land on. Artists and craftsmen made planes that couldn’t fly and even painted them onto canvas. Men and women from all over the country came here to work at a place that was not a working airfield, although their very presence as they moved about was an essential part of its apparent function. The Dummy Drome tells the story of how it became a part of the lives of the people who built it, worked there or lived nearby. These hitherto untold stories reveal the experiences and recollections of the ordinary people who knew it and who were sworn to secrecy. This was only one of over 200 similar decoy sites, and it is possible to piece together what’s left of it on the ground some 80 years later, since it is clearly visible from the air."