Foo Fighters

During the middle of World War II in 1943 and 1944, numerous fighter pilots began to see what they called “foo fighters,” or small balls of light that followed their aircraft. At first, everyone assumed that the balls of light were secret German weapons. However, it was later discovered that German and Japanese pilots also encountered the strange balls of light and thought they were American or English secret weapons. Neither thought that they were extraterrestrials. Strangely, the foo fighters never attacked the planes, but instead flew behind them or whirled around them in curious patterns. They appeared alone or in groups. The United States military and the British military both launched investigations, but were unable to account for the strange sightings. "Foo fighter" is a name given to a small, round flying object which followed Allied bombers over Germany during the latter phases of the air war.

Often while on bombing missions, crews noticed strange lights that followed their bombers. Sometimes the “foos” darted about. Other times they were seen to fly in formation. Barracks and lockerroom rumors had classified the “foo fighters” as another of the Nazis’ secret weapons, but not a single one of the glowing craft was ever shot down or captured. Neither is there any record of a “foo” ever damaging any aircraft or harming any personnel—outside of startling the wits out of pilots and crew members.

The “foos” were spotted in both the European and Far Eastern theaters, and it came as no surprise to these pilots when waves of “foos” were sighted over Sweden in July 1946. A kind of hysteria gripped Sweden, however, and the mysterious “invasion” was reported at great length in the major European newspapers. Some authorities feared that some new kind of German “V” weapon had been discovered and unleashed on the nation that had remained neutral throughout World War II.

There are also some reports of foo fighters in the Pacific theater of the war. Sometimes they would appear singularly but more often in groups, sometimes flying in formation. By day they appeared to be small metallic globes. By night they glowed with various colors. These object attempted to approach Allied bombers closely which scared the bomber crews who assumed they were hostile and might explode. Upon taking evasive maneuvers they found the foo fighters would keep pace with them in some instances. Besides the name foo fighter this device is sometimes called "Feuerball", its German name or its English translation, fireball.

Foo fighters sightings account found in ‘Intercept UFO’ by Renato Vesco:
"At 0600 (on December 22) near Hagenau, at 10,000 feet altitude, two very bright lights climbed toward us from the ground. The leveled off and stayed on the tail of our plane. They were huge bright orange lights. They stayed there for two minutes. On my tail all the time. They were under perfect control (by operators of the ground). They turned away from us, and the fire seemed to go out".

Vesco goes on to say: "The rest of the report was censored. Apparently it went on to mention the plan's radar and its sudden malfunctioning". Flying saucer books of the 1950s usually mentioned foo fighters and recounted the sightings of Allied servicemen. Later, due to the extraterrestrial hysteria, publications tended to omit descriptions of foo fighters, preferring to begin the tale of flying saucers with Kenneth Arnold in 1947.

In modern times, if they are mentioned at all by mainstream UFO magazines or books, an attempt is sometimes made to confuse the issue of the origin of foo fighters in different ways. First, they say or imply that both sides in World War Two thought foo fighters were a weapon belonging to the opposite side. They may cite as a source some German pilot obviously "out of the loop" who claims the Germans did not know their origin. Second, they attempt to advance the idea that foo fighters are still unknown and a mystery or possibly a naturally occurring phenomenon. Third, they advance an extraterrestrial origin. Others tried to explain the unidentified flying objects away as meteors, but witnesses said that the “ghost rockets” could maneuver in circles, stop and start, and appeared to be shaped like metal cigars.

The U.S. military, has always denied knowledge of foo fighters. Numerous Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests have been filed, for instance, by this writer as well as other researchers asking for information on foo fighters. A "no record" response always followed. All U.S. governmental agencies queried claimed that they had never heard of foo fighters. This happened in spite of the fact that all known alternate names for foo fighters were submitted as well as a detailed description of the device itself.

This was the situation until the late 1990s. Vesco is by far the best source concerning the foo fighter which he calls "Feuerball". He describes it as a radio controlled missile, built at an aeronautical establishment at Wiener Neustadt (Austria) with assistance of the Flugfunk Forschungsanstalt (Radio-Flight Research Installation) of Oberpfaffenhoffen. The project was under the control of an SS technical division. It was armored, circular in shape, resembling the shell of a tortoise. The device was powered by special flat, circular a turbojet engine. After being guided to the proximity of the target from the ground, an automatic infrared tracking device took over control. The circular spinning turbojet exhaust created a visual effect of a bright, fiery ball in the nighttime sky. Within the craft itself a klystron tube pulsated at the frequency of Allied radar making it almost invisible to those remote eyes. A thin sheet of aluminum encircled the device immediately under the layer of protective armor but was electrically insulated from the armor. Once a bullet pierced the armor and the thin aluminum sheet, a circuit was formed which had the effect of triggering the Feuerball to climb out of danger at full speed.

Once within range, special chemical additives were added to the fuel mixture which caused the air in the vicinity of the device to become ionized. This meant that electricity could be conducted directly through the air itself. Any ignitionbased engine coming into range of the ionized region would become useless, misfiring, stalling and eventually crashing.

A German researcher, Friedrich Georg, recognized a valuable entry in a microfilm roll, titled a 1944 U.S. Strategic Air Forces In Europe summary titled An Evaluation Of German Capabilities In 1945, which, somehow, had eluded the censors. In that summary report German devices called by American Intelligence "Phoo Bombs" are discussed. Sources for this summary were reports of pilots and testimony of prisoners of war. Phoo bombs were described as "radio-controlled, jet-propelled, still-nosed, short-range, high performance ramming weapons for use against bombing formations". Speed was estimated at 525 miles per hour.

Further demands were made using FOIA as to the raw data used to compile the summary evaluation. Of course, denials followed, but finally, after an Appeal, the government indicated that more information did exist concerning Phoo Bombs. Most of this was a repeat or re-statement of the summary document. One document was hand-written and may have served as the basic text of the report. Regarding this information, it seems the government feels it has the right to deny FOIA reguests, no matter how detailed the description may be, unless the requestor uses exactly the same name as the U.S. government uses. The problem is the name "foo fighters" that U.S. government uses as opposed to "Phoo Bombs" just not close enough to trigger a response under the law.

Friedrich Georg's research work which produced the first document naming Phoo Bombs acted like a Rosetta Stone in that it was a translation of their terms into ours. With these documents as proof of American knowledge of foo fighters, the understanding with regard to foo fighters is quite different than the confusion generated heretofore. The fact is that they were the very first modern UFOs. And the government of the United States has known this all along and kept these facts for sixty years.

Questions arise with the acknowledgement of "Phoo Bombs" by the U.S. government. The first is what is the agenda of those seeking to deny this fact both in and out of government? Are these just extraterrestrial "true believers" gone amuck? There is no doubt that the government has known the truth about foo fighters and German saucers in general for sixty years, yet they have never been willing to publicly acknowledge these facts. What issues of U.S. national security could possibly be compromised with such a disclosure over a half-century later?

Sources :
Encyclopedia of The Unusual and Unexplained Volume 3;
Hitler’s Flying Saucers : “A Guide to German Flying Discs of The Second World War” by Henry Stevens;
Mysteries, Legends & Unexplained Phenomena : “UFO and Aliens” by Preston Dennett.

Pic source :
Mysteries, Legends & Unexplained Phenomena : “UFO and Aliens” by Preston Dennett page 27