Allied night-fighter crews report balls of light pacing their aircraft over Germany
November 1944 – January 1945 · Western Front over Germany and France · Sighting · Secondary sources only
From November 1944 crews of the US 415th Night Fighter Squadron, based in France, reported orange and red balls of light near the Rhine that kept pace with their aircraft and could not be closed on; radar showed nothing. Radar operator Donald Meiers named them 'foo fighters'. An AP reporter's story about them ran in the New York Times by 2 January 1945.
Why it matters (3/5)
Wartime reports by trained aircrew of lights that followed their aircraft, five years before the saucer era.
Caveats
No explanation was ever settled. Suggestions include flares, balloons, natural electrical effects and combat fatigue; some crews suspected a German weapon, but the lights never attacked. RAF crews reported similar lights as early as 1942.
Sources
- Foo fighters: the mysterious lights that followed WWII pilots (Task & Purpose), context