“FOO FIGHTERS”
Sources:
The National Archives, David Clarke, “Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs),” Research Notes 6, August 2009, p. 2.
Sources & Image Credits
Foo Fighters: Myth vs Reality
Sources and credits from the presentation speaker notes.
RAF Reports and Investigations 1942–1945
Image: Air Force Ensign of the United Kingdom. Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=601905
Sources:
The National Archives, AIR 2/5070, “Phenomena Connected with Enemy Night Defensive Tactics: Bomber Command Reports.”
The National Archives, AIR 14/2800, No. 115 Squadron RAF, Bang On, No. 1, December 1943.
The National Archives, Dr. David Clarke, “Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs),” Research Notes 6, August 2009, p. 2.
Air Ministry, Directorate of Intelligence, correspondence with SHAEF concerning night phenomena, 13 March 1945.
Turin, Italy November 1942
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
The National Archives, AIR 14/2076, “No. 61 Squadron unidentified-object report, 2–3 December 1942.”
The National Archives, AIR 27/577/46, “No. 61 Squadron Operations Record Book, November 1942”
The London Gazette, 20 November 1942, Supplement 35791, p. 5032.
Essen, Germany May 1943
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
The National Archives, AIR 27/656/28, No. 77 Squadron RAF, “Summary of Events, May 1943.”
The National Archives, AIR 27/656/29, No. 77 Squadron RAF, “Record of Events, May 1943.”
Norman Oliver, “Report—Extra!”, BUFORA Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3, September–October 1977, pp. 8–9.
Note: My account uses the date established by the wartime records rather than the 26–27 May date Cockcroft recalled in 1977.
Naples, Italy December 1943
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
The National Archives, AIR 27/1518/70, No. 255 Squadron “Operations Records Book Form 541”, page 4, December 1943.
Patrick Hardy Vesey Wells, Flying Logbook, 14 December 1943, reproduced in David Clarke and Andy Roberts, Out of the Shadows, 2002.
Graeme Rendall, Flying Saucer Fever: Airborne UFO Encounters, 1940–1980, 2023.
France August 1944
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
The National Archives, AIR 27/101/15 and AIR 27/101/16, No. 7 Squadron RAF, “Operations Record Book, Forms 540 and 541,” August 1944.
David Clarke, The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings, The National Archives, 2009.
Simon Muggleton, “Kenneth Ivie Roy Milligan — An Encounter with a Flying Saucer – 1944,” Aircrew Remembered website, June 2025.
Ralph Snape, Aircrew Remembered Help Desk, email correspondence, 3 November 2026.
USAAF European Reports and Investigations
Photo: XII Tactical Air Command emblem (unofficial) from Maurer Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983 via Wikimedia Commons.
Sources:
415th Night Fighter Squadron, Intelligence Officer's Report, “Night Phenomenon,” 30 January 1945.
XII Tactical Air Command, “Subject: Night Phenomenon,” 16 January 1945.
First Tactical Air Force (Provisional), First Indorsement, “Night Phenomenon,” 20 January 1945.
SHAEF and British Air Ministry, Intelligence Correspondence Concerning Night Phenomena, March 1945.
Zoe Krasney, "What Were the Mysterious ‘Foo Fighters’ Sighted by WWII Night Flyers?,” Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, August 2016.
Breisach, Germany December 1944
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
415th Night Fighter Squadron, “Sortie Report, Night of 16–17 December 1944.”
Captain F. B. Ringwald, Intelligence Officer, 415th Night Fighter Squadron, Second Indorsement, “Night Phenomenon,” 30 January 1945.
Headquarters XII Tactical Air Command, Intelligence Correspondence, “Night Phenomenon,” January 1945.
Haguenau, France December 1944
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
415th Night Fighter Squadron, “War Diary,” 23 December 1944.
Captain F. B. Ringwald, Intelligence Officer, 415th Night Fighter Squadron, Second Indorsement, “Night Phenomenon,”30 January 1945.
National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 331, SHAEF Intelligence Files, German Armament Equipment Documents, 1944–1945.
Note: Some accounts state that this encounter occurred at 1800; Ringwald’s report states that it occurred at 0600.
Worms, Germany December 1944
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
415th Night Fighter Squadron, sortie-report extract, night of 26–27 December 1944, reproduced in Captain F. B. Ringwald, Second Indorsement, “Night Phenomenon,” 30 January 1945.
National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 331, SHAEF Intelligence Files, German Armament Equipment Documents, 1944–1945.
USAAF Pacific Reports and Investigations
Photo: Insignia, Unit, 20th Air Force, U.S. Army Air Forces by Jason A. Smith, National Air and Space Museum. Smithsonian Institution.
Sources:
Headquarters XXI Bomber Command, Air Intelligence Report, 26 April 1945, “Are These Fireballs?”
Headquarters XXI Bomber Command, “Tactical Mission Reports,” March–July 1945.
Headquarters 58th Bombardment Wing, “Tactical Mission Reports,” April–May 1945.
U.S. Navy, Naval Aviation Confidential Bulletin, June 1945, “Balls of Fire.”
Dominique F. Weinstein, The Foofighters Files (1)—Catalogue of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena Reported by Allied Pilots During WWII (1943-1945), 2009.
Tokyo Bay April 1945
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
Headquarters XXI Bomber Command, Report of Operations, 3–4 April 1945.
Headquarters XXI Bomber Command, Air Intelligence Report, 26 April 1945, “Are These Fireballs?”, Report No. 8.
Patrick Gross, “Tokyo Bay, 4 April 1945,” ACUFO: website.
Dominique F. Weinstein, “Case 118,” The Foofighters Files (1)—Catalogue of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena Reported by Allied Pilots During WWII (1943-1945) 2009.
Tokyo-Kawasaki April 1945
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
Headquarters XXI Bomber Command, Tactical Mission Report, Missions 68 and 69, 15 April 1945, Annex D, Enemy Opposition, Section 5, Balls of Fire.
9th Bombardment Group, War Journal, 15–16 April 1945.
Headquarters Twentieth Air Force, Resume of Missions, Missions 68 and 69, 15 April 1945.
Patrick Gross, “Kawasaki and Tokyo, Japan, 15 April 1945,” ACUFO: website.
Japan June 1945
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
Headquarters XXI Bomber Command, Tactical Mission Report, Missions 206–209, 17–18 June 1945, Annex D, Enemy Air Opposition, Observations.
Headquarters Twentieth Air Force, Resume of Missions, Missions 206–209, June 1945.
Jan Aldrich, “UFO Reports — 1945,” Project 1947 website.
Dominique F. Weinstein, “Case 133,” The Foofighters Files (1)—Catalogue of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena Reported by Allied Pilots During WWII (1943-1945) 2009.
Patrick Gross, ACUFO Catalogue, Honshu or Kyushu, Japan, 18 June 1945.
Numazu July 1945
Photo:
ChatGPT AI-generated image. Created for illustrative purposes; not a historical photograph.
Sources:
Headquarters XXI Bomber Command, Tactical Mission Report, Missions 271–274, 16–17 July 1945, Mission 271, Numazu, Enemy Air Opposition.
Patrick Gross, “Numazu, Japan, 17 July 1945, Cases 1 and 2,” ACUFO: website.
“FOO FIGHTERS” A (Revised) Hypothesis
Donald Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers Are Real, 1950.