| ID | #1632666626 |
| Added | Sun, 26/09/2021 |
| Author | July N. |
| Sources | The New York Times
|
| Phenomena | |
| Status | Research
|
Initial data
New York, New York, TIMES, January 2, 1945, pages 1 and 4.
Fireballs chase American fighter jets during night attacks on Germany, reports
Associated Press
The AMERICAN BASE OF NIGHT FIGHTERS, France, January 1 - The Germans threw something new into the night sky over Germany - a strange, mysterious "stupid fighter", fireballs that rush along with the wings of American Beaufighters performing intruder missions over the sea. Reich.
American pilots have been facing a terrible "fu-fighter" for more than a month in their night flights. Apparently, no one knows exactly what kind of heavenly weapon it is.
Fireballs appear suddenly and accompany planes for many miles. It seems that they are under radio control from the ground and do not lag behind the planes flying at a speed of 300 miles per hour, according to official intelligence reports.
"There are three types of these lights, which we call "foo-fighters", - Lieutenant. Said Donald Meyers from Chicago. "One is the red fireballs that appear from under the tips of our wings and fly with us; the second is a vertical row of three fireballs that fly in front of us, and the third is a group of about fifteen lights that appear in the off state. in the distance-like a Christmas tree in the air - and the flickering flickers on and off ."
The pilots of this night fighter squadron, active since September 1943, find these fireballs the strangest thing they have ever encountered. They are convinced that the "foo-fighter" (foo-fighter) is intended as a psychological as well as military weapon, although the fireballs are not intended to attack aircraft.
"A Fu fighter recently picked me up at an altitude of 700 feet and chased me for twenty miles down the Rhine Valley," said Lieutenant Meyers. " I turned to starboard, and two fireballs turned with me. I turned to port, and they turned with me. We were moving at 260 miles per hour, and the balloons were not far behind us."
"Another time, when we were picked up by "foo-fighter", I dived at a speed of 360 miles per hour. For a while, he held right behind the tips of our wings, and then soared into the sky."
"When I first saw the things on the tips of the wings, I had a terrible thought that the German on the ground was ready to press a button and blow them up. But they don't explode and attack us. They just seem to follow us like will-o ' - the-wisps."
[An Associated Press report from Paris on December 13 said that the Germans were throwing silver balloons into the air against daylight raiders. Then the pilots reported that they had seen these objects, both individually and in groups, during raids on Germany.]
Lieutenant. Wallace Gould of Silver Creek, New York, said the lights followed the tips of his wings for a while, and then, a few seconds later, disappeared into the air at 20,000 feet. Lieutenant. Edward Schlater of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, said he had seen the "fu-fighter" twice and it "looked like a shooting star."
During his first experience with them, Lieutenant Gould said:
"I thought it was some new kind of jet plane after us. But we were very close to them, and none of us saw any structure on the fireballs."
Original news
New York, New York, TIMES, 2 January 1945, pages 1 & 4
Balls of Fire Stalk U.S. Fighters In Night Assaults Over Germany
By The Associated Press
AMERICAN NIGHT FIGHTER BASE, France, Jan. 1 - The Germans have thrown something new into the night skies over Germany - the weird, mysterious "foo-fighter," balls of fire that race alongside the wings of American Beaufighters flying intruder missions over the Reich.
American pilots have been encountering the eerie "foo-fighter" for more than a month in their night flights. No one apparently knows exactly what this sky weapon is.
The balls of fire appear suddenly and accompany the planes for miles. They appear to be radio-controlled from the ground and keep up with planes flying 300 miles an hour, official intelligence reports reveal.
"There are three kinds of these lights we call 'foo-fighters,'" Lieut. Donald Meiers of Chicago said. "One is red balls of fire which appear off our wing tips and fly along with us; the second is a vertical row of three balls of fire which fly in front of us, and the third is a group of about fifteen lights which appear off in the distance - like a Christmas tree up in the air - and flicker on and off."
The pilots of this night-fighter squadron - in operation since September, 1943 - find these fiery balls the weirdest thing that they have yet encountered. They are convinced that the "foo-fighter" is designed to be a psychological as well as a military weapon, although it is not the nature of the fire-balls to attack planes.
"A 'foo-fighter' picked me up recently at 700 feet and chased me twenty miles down the Rhine Valley," Lieutenant Meiers said. "I turned to starboard and two balls of fire turned with me. I turned to the port side and they turned with me. We were going 260 miles an hour and the balls were keeping right up with us."
"On another occasion when a 'foo-fighter' picked us up, I dove at 360 miles per hour. It kept right off our wing tips for a while and then zoomed up into the sky."
"When I first saw the things off my wing tips, I had the horrible thought that a German on the ground was ready to press a button and explode them. But they don't explode or attack us. They just seem to follow us like will-o'-the wisps."
[An Associated Press report from Paris on Dec. 13 said that the Germans had thrown silvery balls into the air against day raiders. Pilots then reported that they had seen these objects, both individually and in clusters, during forays over Germany.]
Lieut. Wallace Gould of Silver Creek, N.Y., said that the lights had followed his wing tips for a while and then, in a few seconds, zoomed 20,000 feet into the air out of sight. Lieut. Edward Schlater of OshKosh, Wis., said that he had seen the "foo-fighter" on two occasions and it "looked like shooting stars." In his first experience with them, Lieutenant Gould said, "I thought it was some new form of jet-propulsion plane after us. But we were very close to them and none of us saw any structure on the fire balls."
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