1944 · Rhine valley and the Pacific
Foo fighters over Europe
Page of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron war diary recording that "the Foo-fighters were at it again last night": orange lights between Wissembourg and Landau that followed a Beaufighter and vanished when it turned into them. Scan of the wartime squadron record. · U.S. Army Air Forces, 415th Night Fighter Squadron war diary; scan from Patrick Gross's ACUFO archive
When1944 – 1945
WhereRhine valley and the Pacific
Backing4 independent
Witnesses1 named
Evidenceofficial records, documents
Allied night-fighter crews of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron began reporting glowing balls of light that paced their aircraft, sometimes for minutes, then shot away. They called them 'foo fighters'. Crews first assumed they were German weapons; after the war it emerged that German and Japanese pilots had seen the same things and thought they were Allied.
Evidence, in date order (4)
- 1944SHAEF filesofficialofficial wartime records on 'night phenomena (foo fighters)' war.gov: SHAEF files on "night phenomena (foo fighters)", 1944–45
- 1944German and Japanese pilotswitnesssaw the same lights and thought they were Allied Wikipedia: Foo fighter
- Jan 1945Associated Pressdocumentwartime press coverage of the reports Wikipedia: Foo fighter
- 1953CIA Robertson Panelofficialreviewed foo fighters as an unexplained precedent Wikipedia: Foo fighter
How plausible · High
SHAEF files, squadron reports by trained crews, enemy pilots' matching reports and the Robertson Panel's review.
- ●●Access Direct observation or instruments.
- ●●No gain sought Nothing to gain.
- ●●Character record Trained professionals.
- ●●Independent convergence Independent sources agree.
- ●●Checkable details check out Released official records.
- ●●Fits the documented skeleton Fits the documented record.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- Squadron intelligence reports and wartime press coverage (Associated Press, January 1945).
- The 1953 CIA Robertson Panel reviewed foo fighters as an unexplained precedent.Robertson Panel
Claims
Intelligent probes monitoring the war, the same 'orbs' pilots still report today.speculationSourced, unconfirmedbelievers
Where
Rhine valley and the Pacific
50.0°N 7.6°E · region only
war.gov files on this case (1)
PDF331 120752 Numeric Files 1944–1945 37153 German Armament Equipment DocumentsDOW · Release 01 · 3/18/45
In The picture
The pictureThe atomic bomb woke it up. Foo fighters, the ghost rockets and Los Angeles 1942 came first, then Roswell in 1947, the green fireballs over Los Alamos, Washington DC in 1952, the radar-tracked intercept at Lakenheath in 1956, Malmstrom in 1967, Rendlesham in 1980 and the activity around nuclear sites ever since. The …