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France, in June 1944:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-06-00-FRANCE-1

Summary:

In his 2022 book about the “Foo-Fighters”, French author Jean-Claude Sidoun published this image:

He indicated that it shows planes “of the American 415th operating from Dijon and Ochey (France), flown over by Foo-Fighters in June 1944.”

This is entirely false. I was later able to trace back the image to a U.S. Army Air Forces footage of 1944 or 1945, in which these so-called “Foo-Fighters” are described: they were “green green” distress flares dropped by a B-17 so that the P-47 fighters come to rescue.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. aaf1:] U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES:

The footage below is an extract, starting at minute 18, which I took from “Ramrod to Emden”, a P-47 and B-17 combat film by the 1st Army Air Forces Combat Film Detachment of U.S. Army Air Forces, shot in 1944 or 1945, probably above France or Germany, with the bombers en route for a daytime raid on Emden.

This is the source from which the two next sources - ufology sources - took their “foo-fighters”.

Transcription of the comment:

[Ref. jcr1:] JEFF CHALLENDER:

Jeff Challender had a section of his Website where he published about UFOs he spotted on old footage or TV shows. In 2003, he published about a new occurrence he found:

A PAIR OF “FOO FIGHTERS”

WWII

[Photo of a B-17 on the ground with the caption:] Boeing B-17G “Flying Fortress”

Some time ago, I was watching a documentary on the air war over Europe in World War II. I happened to notice this pair of white orbs passing through a formation of US Army Air Force B-17 bombers as they flew above Nazi occupied territory on their way to destroy Hitler's war machine.

As I always do when something like this catches my eye, I ran the tape back again and again to see what is there. Below is an animated GIF I made from still frames taken from the original tape. This film was first shot in the 1940s as news footage to be shown on the home front.

Flyers on all sides of the conflict reported seeing these orbs of light passing near their planes. At the time, most people assumed that these things were enemy secret weapons. Of course, after the war was over, none of the belligerents were found to be responsible. Allied pilots nicknamed these objects “Foo Fighters”.

A pair of “Foo Fighters” seen passing amongst B-17 bombers over occupied Europe during the Second World War. These enigmatic interlopers were reported by all sides, in all theaters, of that war. They were generally said to be quite small; about the size of a basketball, or European football. It was only after the conflict ended that reports of the disks, and larger objects began.

This is the clearest frame showing one of the two objects alone in the air. This, and the rest of the blow-up frames, are at 200% normal. Due to the fact that the film is over 60 years old, and digitalized by the documentary producers for television, we cannot obtain the quality of image we'd like for close inspection.

Here the object is seen against the dark background of a B-17 wing.

Same frame, not markings.

In this frame, the object is silhouetted agains the tail of another bomber.

Here we have a new (2005) animated GIF composed of 52 frames. These are freshly captured for this GIF. Now the motion of the objects is much smoother, and their trajectories can be followed with more accuracy. You might notice, after watching a few cycles, that the camera man was obviously more concerned with the two glowing white objects than he was with tracking the B-17s. These objects are NOT German weapons or aircraft. Nothing man-made in the skies of wartime Europe resembled the anomalies seen here. They remain unexplained. Some 50 years later, an object almost identical to these was seen flying amonst a formation of F-15E fighter jets over Iraq in 1991. That event is explored HERE.

At the end of the day, it's up to YOU to draw your own conclusions.

2003 Jeff Challender

[Ref. jsn1:] JEAN-CLAUDE SIDOUN:

Aircraft information:

The image shows U.S. Army Air Force B-17 bombers, never used by the 415th Night Fighter Squadron; which then operated Bristol Beaufighters night fighters.

Discussion:

The following points should be noted:

• The 415th Night Fighter Squadron obviously did not use the B-17 bombers seen in the image, but Bristol Beaufighters night fighters.
• The observations of the 415th NFS pilots had all taken place at night, obviously, and not during the day, the image having clearly been taken during the day.
• No recognized source has ever mentioned the slightest photo taken by the aviators of the 415th NFS. In their missions, dangerous, all at night, with a pilot and a radar operator, they were clearly not expected to take photos.
• It is therefore clear that the date and country given in [jsn1] are completely questionable.

The image appears to have appeared first on February 3, 2014 on a Japanese website - it has since disappeared. It has since been published on a dozen websites illustrating articles on the “Foo-Fighters”. No information has ever been given as to its origin. There is no date, no place, nothing.

It should be noted that the image on the Web is not a “photographic” type image, but an “animated GIF”, several images, as if recomposed from what would originally be a video:

It is worth noting that the alleged “Foo-Fighters”, in several frames of the sequence, appear between the B-17s - they appear “in front” of one or the other of them. Example below:

This could possibly be an artifact of compressed video from an original footage - which I was unable to find despite watching dozens of hours of footage of B-17 operations in WWII.

In the last image above, a supposed “Foo-Fighters” appears in the bottom right corner, which was not in the previous image.

In the footage, the cameraman follows the positions of the alleged “Foo-Fighters”, suggesting that they are seen and intentionally filmed.

In other similar sequences, it is clear that these were parachutes, but the points mentioned above and the absence of an aviator under the spots make me think that this time it is not parachutes, and that it is not planes either.

These are also not stains on the film, nor bombs.

However, it could be debris from planes shot down above the B-17s, or a trick created over images taken from an authentic film.

It could be reflective water drops on the Plexiglas of the cameraman's B-17, a possibility with which it is no longer abnormal that the cameraman appears to be “following” the alleged “Foo-Fighters.”

Update of July 14, 2024:

For one thing, I have now found where the image in the [jsn1] book came from: Jeff Challender's now-defunct website, back in 2003.

So it turns out that it is a film, not a photo.

I was able to find the original footage, [aaf1], and at the same time, the ordinary explanation of this case.

Evaluation:

Distress flares.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

• [aaf1] * "Ramrod to Emden", a P-47 and B-17 combat film by the 1st Army Air Forces Combat Film Detachment, U.S. Army Air Forces, 1944 or 1945.
• [jcr1] * "A pair of 'Foo Fighters'", web page by Jeff Challender, on his ufology Website Project Prove, USA, 2003, was at http://www.projectprove.com/Arts/foo/foo.php
• [jsn1] * "L'Enigme des Foo-Fighters", book by Jean-Claude Sidoun, JMG publisher, France, page 55, 2022.

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This page was last updated on June 6, 2024.