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Foo Fighters

Sighting

Allied pilots reported glowing orbs tailing aircraft over Europe and the Pacific during 1944-1945

Witnesses — Allied pilots

Evidence — Documents

Status — Unknown

Disclosure Rating — 3/10

During the closing eighteen months of World War II Allied aviators logged dozens of encounters with self-luminous spheres that shadowed bombers and night-fighters yet never fired a shot. Combat reports quickly dubbed the objects "foo fighters," a borrowing from radar-observer Donald J. Meiers's Smokey Stover catch-phrase. Intelligence files show the phenomenon spanned both European and Pacific theatres and vanished as abruptly as it appeared once hostilities ended.1

  Operational timeline

DateTheatreEvent summaryPrimary aircrew
27 Nov 1944Rhine Valley, FranceLt. Ed Schlueter, Lt. Donald J. Meiers and Lt. Fred Ringwald record 8–10 orange lights pacing a Bristol Beaufighter for several minutes before accelerating away.2415th NFS
13 Dec 1944Paris press poolSHAEF issues communiqué describing "mystery balls" reported by U.S. night-fighters; Associated Press dispatch circulates term Foo Fighter.War correspondents
17 Dec 1944Breisach, GermanyNight intruder sees five red-green lights form a 'T' shape at 800 ft then climb to rejoin at 1 000 ft off port wing.415th NFS
22 Dec 1944Hagenau, AlsaceTwo incandescent spheres launch vertically to 10 000 ft, shadow a Mosquito for two minutes, peel off and vanish.415th NFS
2 Jan 1945National pressNew York Times front-page story "Balls of Fire Stalk U.S. Fighters" introduces phenomenon to public.U.S. press
Mar 1945Philippine SeaB-29 crews report basketball-sized lights pacing aircraft during raids on the Home Islands, mimicking turns but showing no hostility.20th AF

  Named eyewitnesses

NameRole/RankNotable Contribution/Description
Frederic "Fritz" RingwaldSquadron Intelligence OfficerFiled the first formal report; compiled fourteen incidents for XII Tactical Air Command, enabling subsequent SHAEF briefing.
Lt. Edward SchlueterBeaufighter PilotProvided post-mission debrief on 27 Nov 1944 that established the canonical description: orange-red spheres with right-angle turns and instantaneous acceleration.
Lt. Donald J. MeiersRadar ObserverCredited with coining the "foo fighter" label after referencing a Smokey Stover comic during a debrief.
Lt. Samuel A. KrasneyB-29 NavigatorDescribed a crimson, wingless cigar hovering off the starboard wing during a Jan 1945 mission; dismissed flares or rockets as explanations.3

  Intelligence assessment

At the time Allied analysts weighed three prevailing hypotheses: high-performance German ordnance, electrostatic phenomena akin to St Elmo's fire, or misperceived astronomical reflections.

Captured Luftwaffe personnel denied any such weapon, and post-war U.S. Naval Research Laboratory modelling showed observed manoeuvres exceeded the thrust–weight envelope of the Me-163 or V-2.

The Robertson Panel ultimately filed foo-fighter sightings as unidentified but non-threatening, noting the absence of aggressive action and the objects' disappearance after August 1945.45

  References

  1. Air Force Historical Research Agency, Combat Diary 415th Night Fighter Squadron (1944–1945) https://www.afhra.af.mil/Portals/16/documents/Studies/AFD-090602-036.pdf ↩

  2. Timeline sources — a: Lindell, J. (1991) "Interviews with 415th NFS Personnel"; b: Associated Press, Paris, 13 Dec 1944; c: Chester, K. Strange Company (2007); d: Rendall, G. UFOs Before Roswell (2021); e: https://www.nytimes.com/1945/01/02/archives/balls-of-fire-stalk-us-fighters-in-night-assaults-over-germany-fire.html; f: Janos, A. "Mysterious UFOs Seen by WWII Airmen," History.com, 2018. ↩

  3. XII Tactical Air Command Intelligence Summary No. 231 (Jan 1945) ↩

  4. Rendall, G. UFOs Before Roswell (2021) pp. 94–95 ↩

  5. Bastien, C. 32 Co-pilots (2004) p. 205 ↩

Occured on November 1, 1944

3 min read