In late 1939 Colonel Sir John Turner was appointed head of decoy and deception schemes within the Air Ministry and had his headquarters at the film studios at Shepperton in Middlesex. The initial aim was to produce decoy aerodromes to reduce the damage caused by enemy attacks on landing grounds. The first decoys produced were known as K-sites and represented the daytime appearance of an aerodrome, with dummy aircraft and buildings made from wood and canvas, with a number of vehicles and other effects to give the overall result of a busy RAF station. There were only two K-sites built in Scotland, neither of which were in East Lothian.

Anticipating the switch to night attacks from mid-1940 onwards, night decoys were also constructed, known as Q-sites. These did not try to mimic a complete aerodrome with dummy aircraft and buildings, etc., but instead used lights to simulate the approach lighting which was necessary for an aerodrome to operate at night. Q-sites would not operate on clear, moonlit nights when it would be obvious to the German bomber crews that the Q-site was not a real aerodrome. However, assuming that visibility was not too great, but good enough for the lights to be seen, the ideal operation of a Q-site was for the runway lights to be turned off when a German bomber was within two or three miles. This would mimic what would happen on an operational aerodrome when a hostile aircraft was in the vicinity, but still enable the German crew to see the lights before they were turned off. Other lights would remain illuminated on the Q-site, to represent the red obstruction lights which would appear on the hangars or other large buildings.

In order to provide power for the electric lights, an electric generator was necessary, and this would be housed in a semi-underground pre-cast concrete building on the edge of the site. As well as housing the generators for the site, this building also contained the operations room, from which the crew would control the lights, dousing them as and when necessary. The building was also the shelter for the crew if the site managed to attract bombs, protecting them from blast and shrapnel and pretty much everything except a direct hit on the building itself.

In order to protect Drem, which was, along with Turnhouse, the main fighter base protecting Edinburgh, Rosyth and the rest of south-east Scotland, a Q-site was set up at Whitekirk in the summer of 1940. Almost immediately it proved effective, with two high explosive bombs being dropped on the site just after 10.30pm on the night of 13 July 1940. Two weeks later, at 1am on the morning of 27 July, four bombs were dropped at Stonelaws next to the Q-site. Another bomb was dropped at 1am on 4 August in Whitekirk itself. Bombs were still being dropped on the site on the evening of 2 October 1941, when eight high explosive bombs were dropped at Stonelaws, Waughton and Newbyth Mains. The Whitekirk Q-site was clearly highly effective and, in fact, was too good, resulting in complaints being made about the danger in which Whitekirk and the surrounding communities were being placed. In consequence, a new Q-site was set up at the Halls Farm (about a mile south of Spott).

Although this Q-site was further from Drem than Whitekirk, it was nonetheless just as effective and was bombed on several occasions. The first 'attack' was between 2.30 and 3am on 25 August 1940, when the site received a total of ten high explosive bombs.
At 1.50 the following morning another seven bombs were dropped on the Q-site. Another two bombs landed on the Q-site on 2 September 1941.Records suggest that another Q-site existed at Spittal (two-and-a-half miles north-west of Haddington). However, no further information has emerged on this site and this, combined with the fact that no bombs are recorded as falling in that area, suggests that this site was merely a proposal but was never actually set up.

In all the attacks on the East Lothian Q-sites, no-one was injured. The bombs which these sites attracted might otherwise have landed on Drem aerodrome itself and destroyed aircraft, or killed airmen or women. It is therefore quite clear that these two sites were a great success and deceived quite a number of German aircrew into attacking a dummy target instead of a real one.