SHAEF Files on "Night Phenomena (Foo Fighters)" and Cylindrical Objects, 1945
- Date
- Jan. 16–March 16, 1945 (sightings Dec. 1944–Jan. 1945 and March 1, 1945)
- Location
- Eastern France and the Rhine area (named places include Erstein, Breisach, Sarrebourg–Strasbourg, Hagenau, Lunéville, Saverne, Worms, Weissembourg–Landau)
- Agency
- Department of War
- Release
- Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
- Type
- document
Summary
A Jan. 16, 1945, XII Tactical Air Command memo quotes the 415th Night Fighter Squadron: "We have encountered a phenomenon which we cannot explain; crews have been followed by lights that blink on and off," which "fly formation with our planes"; a Jan. 30 indorsement lists sortie extracts from Dec. 14–15, 1944, to Jan. 29–30, 1945 (among them three sets of lights "eight miles NE of Luneville" and "Foofighters North of Strasbourg and North of Saverne"), notes that ground control always reported no bogey aircraft, and says "Foofighters is the name given these phenomenon by combat crews." A Feb. 7 SHAEF letter says there "must be something more than mere imagination behind the matter," and the Air Ministry's March 13 reply suggests some may have been Me-262s and flak rockets "the most likely explanation," while calling it "still something of a mystery." The file also relays a March 1 pilot report of a 12-foot aluminum-colored cylinder at 9,000 feet that was attacked and partly deflated, photos of which proved unsuccessful, plus unrelated messages on German bomb-torpedo stocks.
Note
The origin of the term "foo fighter," in the airmen's own reports, with officials offering guesses but no firm answer.