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.
“Headquarters”7 pages
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
A/Cmdr. Grierson, A.C. of S. A-2 Air Staff S.H.A.E. From : Air Ministry, D.D.I.2. Date : 13th March, 1945. Ref : 111/45/DDI2. MAR1945 BALLS OF FIRE - RED. 37153 The papers dealing with the above subject which you enclosed with your memo SHAEF Air/ TS.37153/A2 dated 11th February, have been carefully examined and discussed with the various other Departments concerned. Bomber Command crews have for some time been reporting similar phenomenon. A few of the alleged aircraft may have been Me. 262 and for the rest, flak rockets are suggested as the most likely explanation. The whole affair is still something of a mystery and the evidence is very sketchy and varied so that no definite and satisfactory explanation can yet be given. 23554337 E. D. W. Hopkins Group Captain
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.