Numeric Files 1944–1945 37153 German Armament Equipment Documents

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.

AIR MINISTRY. USSTAF. (M)2nd T.A.F. (M)1ST TAC A.F. H.Q. IXTH TAC.

AI.320	Date4 MARCH 1945	(Write horizontally)FOLLOWING	RECEIVED FROM	H.Q.NINTH5
TAC AIR COMMAND	DATED 1 MARCH	QUOTE PILOTS	REPORT FOLLOWING	AN ALUMINUM10
COLOURED	CYLINDER	SHAPED OBJECT	COMMA ABOUT 12	FEET LONG15
AND 1 FOOT IN	DIAMETER WAS	OBSERVED	FLOATING IN THE	AIR AT20
9,000 FEET(.)	IT APPEARED	TO BE	SUSPENDED	VERTICALLY25
WITH SMALL	FINS AND A	MAST	PROJECTING FROM	THE LOWER30
END(.) THE	OBJECT WAS	ATTACKED AND	PARTIALLY	DEFLATED35
COMMA A RED FLAME	RESULTED	WITHOUT SMOKE	(.) THE	CYLINDER40
DID NOT	DISINTEGRATE	(.) PHOTO	TAKEN BY	107 SQ.45
OF 67 TAC/R	GROUP AT	011030 HOURS	VIC F-5710	UNQUOTE(.)50

(*.Strike out methods which do not apply. Below this line is for Signals use only.)

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