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.
# SUPREME HEADQUARTERS ALLIED EXPEDITIONARY FORCE (FORWARD) Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff A-2 (61A) 61A REF : SHAEF/AIR/S.37193/A=2 14 March 1945. SUBJECT: Request for Photographs. TO 1. HQ. 1ST US. TAC. A.F. Attention AC of S. A-2. Reference your letter dated 12 March asking that photos be furnished as mentioned in our Signal n.I.380 dated 4 March, this office has since been informed by HQ. IX TAC. That the pictures of "Long cylindrical objects" claimed by the 107th P.R. Squadron pilot proved to be unsuccessful. For the Deputy Supreme Commander: T.G. AMES. Lt-Col. AC. A-2 RECCE.
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.