Evening star., 1947-07-06
AAF Pilots Reported
Foo Fighters in War
Like Flying 5aucers'

Maybe the people who have been
reporting flying saucers" from all
over the country just don't know a
foo fighter when they see one.
That's what our fighter and
bomber pilots called the air-borne
discs or spheres they encountered
over Nazi Germany in the winter
of 1914 -45-"foo fighters ii that's
any help.
Some of these weird objects, like
those reported over America, ema-
mated reddish light. while others
had the appearance of silver globes.
Fighter pilots returning to their
base in France in early January of
1945 were convinced Hitler had come
up with new secret weapon" The
Yanks dubbed them foo fighters"
or Kraut fire balls.' q
Is Followed Bomber.
Some danced just off the wing
tips. or played tag with the fighters
in power dives. Others appeared in
precise formation, and on another
occasion a whole bomber crew saw
about Is following at a distance,
flashing on and off.
One foo fighter" chased 1t.
Meters of Chicago 20 miles down the
Rhine Valley at 300 miles an hour,
an Associated Press war correspond
ent reported.
Intelligence believed at the time
the balls might have been radar-
controlled-sent up, perhaps, to foul
ignition systems or battle the Allies
radar networks. The pilots soon
learned they were harmless, to them
personally at any rate.
1t was speculated by scientists at
home that the foo fighters" might
have been an electrical induction
phenomena or one aspect of ball
lightning, either of which might
somewhat resemble ST. Elmo's fire.
Not Explained.
The wartime mystery, like the
current thriller, appears to have no
eXplana ation-unless, of course. the
objects could have been imported
for secret tests in this country.
Yet researchers of the Army, Navy
and a Government observatory
agreed today on one thing-they
don't know, what it's all about"
Informed that the crew of an air.
liner had reported seeing a forma-
ton of the strange "saucers' SKIM
ming through the sky last night, an
Army Air Forces officer repeated,
bit YEARLY:
1--WE have no experimental air
craft of that nature in Idaho, nor
anywhere else. We're mystifled."
Td Like to See One First"
The Navy also had no explanation,
and the Naval Observatory here
seemed certain from descriptions so
far, including one supplied by a
housewife in nearby Virginia, that
the flying discs "do not seem to be
astronomical phenomena.
Official spokesmen had not much
comment to make on foo fighters"
either.
I'D like to see one first before I
make guess" said Ivan R. Tame
hill, chief of the Weather Bureaus
Division of Synoptic Reports and
Forecasts, when asked for his ex-
planation of the discs.
Mr.. Tannehill said the reports
sound like those things you see on
New Years Eve, except that this was
on the Fourth of july
Compared to Monster Reports.
DR.. Newbern Smith of the Ma
tional Bureau of Standards put 1t
in these words:
Its like those Loch Ness mon
ster stories-once the report gets
around that some one said they saw
something, lot of people think they
see it too"
He said he wouldn't think" the
discs were a natural phenomenon
but that ANY theory might do
equally as we'll" He suggested it
may have been the reflection Of a
distant plane"