WWII FOO FIGHTERS: THE STRANGE LIGHTS THAT FOLLOWED ALLIED PILOTS
COMMENT
SHARE
In 1945, during World War II, some Allied pilots reported seeing strange lights in the night skies over Europe. They would notice glowing orange, green, and red lights appearing near their aircraft. The lights moved quickly, as if they were following the aircraft before they totally vanished without a trace.
Today, you might already recognize “Foo Fighters” as a band name, and in this story, VeteranLife delivers a World War II mystery that had pilots wondering whether they were fighting a war against something not of this world: the WWII Foo Fighters.
Sightings of Glowing Lights Over the Hills
World War II was nearly over in 1944, but strange things were still happening around the world. In this case, it was the WWII Foo Fighters, and the 415th Night Fighter Squadron witnessed them in November 1944.
Lieutenant Fred Ringwald was observing Lt. Ed Schlueter, who was the pilot-in-command at that time. Lt. Donald J. Meiers was the ground controller assisting them through radar. That night was partly cloudy with a quarter moon, and they were flying around the Rhine Valley.
The Rhine Valley was just near the French-German border when they suddenly saw some lights in the distance.
Ringwald said, “I wonder what those lights are, over there in the hills.”
There were about 8 to 10 glowing orange lights, and the fighters thought they were German air weapons.
The fighters quickly checked with Lt. Meiers for ground radar, only to find nothing but themselves. At first, they shrugged it off, since the glowing orange lights eventually faded. But then, after a few days, similar sightings have occurred throughout the unit.
Similar Sightings from Nearby Areas
There was a similar sighting in Germany on December 17, 1944. There were 5 to 6 flashing red and green lights in a “T” shape when a pilot was flying at 800 feet. The difference in this situation was that the lights seemed to be following the pilot, closing in “to about 8 o’clock and 1,000 ft.” Eventually, as with the first sighting, it disappeared.
On December 22 of the same year, 2 lights were observed in a large orange glow that seemed to rise from the earth to 10,000 feet, tailing the fighter for approximately 2 minutes.
From Keith Chester’s book “Strange Company: Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II,” it was mentioned that the lights seemed to “peel off and turn away, fly along level for a few minutes, and then go out. They appear to be under perfect control at all times.”
Lt. Samuel A. Krasney saw the last light sightings, and according to him, it was a wingless, cigar-shaped object glowing red. The scary part is that it was just a few yards off the plane’s wingtip. And again, it stayed right next to them, just like it did in the few other sightings before it went off.
Was It a Nazi Rocket?
It wasn’t clear what these lights were, where they came from, or what their purpose was. From each of the pilots’ experiences, every sighting was similar. Those glowing lights were just there, seemed like they were following them, but eventually disappeared.
There were a few reasons that the glowing lights may have come from the Nazis:
- The sightings occurred in Europe that was under Nazi control during WWII
- The V-2 Rocket is the most advanced weapon developed by the Germans during the war, so they had the ability to create technology that was unusual, like glowing lights
The most compelling of these speculations is the V-2 Rocket, which has a long-burning plume similar to how the glowing lights were described. However, this was not confirmed because the WWII Foo Fighters did not fit any descriptions of the Nazi weapons. At the end, where the glowing lights came from just remained unknown.
There are many theories about this story: some say it was just flares, maybe weather balloons, or even St. Elmo’s Fire, a phenomenon in which a light appears on the tips of objects in stormy weather. The members of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron rejected all of those theories.
The most interesting part of this story is the name itself: Foo Fighters. The name is actually inspired by the comic strip “Smokey Stover.” This means that Smokey, who was a firefighter, often said, “Where there’s foo, there’s fire.”
The Foo Fighters Band
The WWII Foo Fighters story is one of the strangest unsolved mysteries in military history. The night fighters never got an answer about the glowing lights they saw, and they carried that with them forever.
The cool thing about this is that it is still relevant today because Dave Grohl from Nirvana formed a band called “Foo Fighters.” In a way, the story of the WWII Foo Fighters continues to live on through the band’s name.
Some stories eventually get clear answers, but this one really didn’t, and maybe that’s okay. Maybe some of the mysteries during the war, like the WWII Foo Fighters, can just live on through other ways like music.
Read next:
Join the Conversation
BY ALLISON KIRSCHBAUM
Veteran, Military History & Culture Writer at VeteranLife
Navy Veteran
Allison Kirschbaum is a Navy Veteran and an experienced historian. She has seven years of experience creating compelling digital content across diverse industries, including Military, Defense, History, SaaS, MarTech, FinTech, financial services, insurance, and manufacturing. She brings this expertis...
Credentials
Expertise
Allison Kirschbaum is a Navy Veteran and an experienced historian. She has seven years of experience creating compelling digital content across diverse industries, including Military, Defense, History, SaaS, MarTech, FinTech, financial services, insurance, and manufacturing. She brings this expertis...
