The Pentagon Reopens the Mystery of the World War II Foo Fighters

Declassified documents from the United States Department of War have revealed new details about the investigation conducted by the U.S. Army after Allied pilots reported encounters with mysterious lights during the final months of World War II. Known as “Foo Fighters,” the objects were repeatedly observed by aviators operating on the European front against Nazi Germany.

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The files show that military concern intensified in early 1945, when Lieutenant Colonel Leavitt Corning Jr., of the XII Tactical Air Command, sent a secret memorandum titled “Night Phenomenon,” requesting immediate clarification regarding the reports recorded by Allied aircrews.

The response from high command, signed by Major S. V. Boykin, indicated uncertainty among military authorities. The document demanded technical details before the formal opening of an investigation, including the color, intensity, altitude, and behavior of the lights in relation to the aircraft.

The term “Foo Fighters” was officially adopted by Captain F. B. Ringwald after compiling reports from the 415th Night Fighter Squadron. According to the records, the name was inspired by an expression used in the comic strip “Smokey Stover,” which was popular among American soldiers during the war.

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The reports attached to the documents describe frequent incidents involving red, green, and orange lights that followed Allied aircraft for extended periods. In several cases, pilots stated that the objects performed coordinated maneuvers and remained close to the aircraft before abruptly disappearing.

One of the reports cited in the files describes two amber lights chasing an American fighter aircraft at close range. When the pilot attempted to intercept the objects, they disappeared. The records also indicate that ground radar failed to detect any aerial presence during the incidents.

The increase in reports led the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF) to treat the matter as a possible military threat. In February 1945, British Air Commodore C. M. Grierson stated in an internal communication that there was “something beyond mere imagination” behind the sightings.

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The initial hypothesis among Allied authorities was that the objects could be connected to experimental Nazi weapons. The documents mention suspicions involving the so-called “Flak Bombe,” an alleged device associated with the German V-2 rocket program developed in Peenemünde under the direction of engineer Wernher von Braun.

The files also show that, in March 1945, Allied military personnel ordered the urgent seizure of equipment found at the Trippelwerke Molsheim factory in France. Analysts believed that special munitions or German anti-aircraft technologies could explain the phenomena observed during the Battle of Alsace.

Despite investigations conducted by the U.S. Army and British intelligence services, the documents provide no definitive conclusions regarding the origin of the Foo Fighters. The lack of concrete evidence kept the case open and fueled different interpretations over the following decades.

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One of the most widespread postwar hypotheses suggested the existence of the “Feuerball,” an alleged electromagnetic device created by the Nazis to interfere with the radars and engines of Allied bombers. However, there is no official confirmation regarding the operational development of such technology.

Another line of interpretation gained traction among civilian researchers involved in the study of unidentified anomalous phenomena. According to this hypothesis, the Foo Fighters could have been probes of extraterrestrial origin observing military operations during the final moments of the war and the beginning of the nuclear era.

The newly digitized documents remain publicly available on the official portal of the United States Department of War.

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