Documents / Official release
This file from SHAEF Air Staff, dated between January and March 1945 and closing with an 18 March 1945 letter, collects wartime correspondence about "night phenomena" that 415th Night Fighter Squadron crews called foofighters. It includes the squadron's sortie extracts from December 1944 and January 1945 describing lights that followed aircraft near Strasbourg and elsewhere, plus a report of an aluminum-colored cylinder that pilots attacked. The Air Ministry suggested Me 262s and flak rockets as explanations but admitted the matter remained a mystery.
From the source: Release of 2026-05-08 Incident: 3/18/45, Germany. NARA Record Group 331, catalogue id 120752. This file contains SHAEF messages and memorandums related to "night phenomena (foofighters)," flak rockets, unidentified cylindrical objects, and blinking lights. The documents include multiple references to the observations of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron.
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
AIR STAFF SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE REF:- 37153 11 February 1945. T0:- First Tactical Air Force (Prov.), APO 374, U.S. ARMY. 1. Reference to your 3rd Indorsement on the subject of night phenomenon originated by the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, there is no information at this Headquarters which might explain the nature and cause of the lights and other phenomena described by the pilots of this Squadron. 2. The matter is, therefore, being referred to the Air Ministry in order to find out whether any further information can be obtained from that source. It is also hoped to make arrangements for an Air Technical Intelligence Officer from USSTAF to visit the Unit concerned. For the Deputy Supreme Commander, C.M. GRIERSON, Air Commodore, A.C. of S., A-2.
Official release, from the pursue collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 17 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.