ACUFO-1944-11-26-MANNHEIM-1
In the 1970 - 1990, "Citizens Against UFO Secrecy" (CAUS) was a lobby started by ufologists Todd Zechel, Peter Gersten and Brad Sparks trying to get declassified UFO documents from the US government. Barry greenwood was the wditor of their bulletin "Just Cause".
In the issue for June 1992 of the bulletin, CAUS announced that they managed to get the first "Foo Fighters" official reports in the War diaries of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron and its summary. Extracts were cited, such as:
November 27 [1944]- "The following weird excerpt comes from Lt. Schlueter's report of an intruder mission: 'Upon returning to base saw a red light flying through area about 35 miles ENE of Pt. A. Came in to about 2000 feet off starboard and then it disappeared in a long red streak."
The War diary of the unit for November 1944 told that on the night of November 26, 1944, between 18h00 and 19h30, Lt. Edward A. Schlueter, pilot of a Beaufighter of the USAAF 415th Night Fighter Squadron stationned at the Ochey Air Base near Dijon, France, and his radar operator Lt. Donald J. Meiers, reported that in an intruder mission on Mannheim, Germany...
"Upon returning to base saw a red light flying through area, came in to about 2,000 ft off starboard and then it disappeared in a long red streak."
| Date: | November 26, 1944 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Between 06 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | November 1945 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, 4 days. |
| Country: | France or Germany |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | |
| City: |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 to 3 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | 2 |
| Reporting channel: | Military operation reports. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Flies. |
| Witnesses action: | ? |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1 to 3
[ ] Airborne radar: Not reported. [ ] Directional ground radar: Not reported. [ ] Height finder ground radar: Not reported. [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | NL |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, 20 mm canon, machine guns. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 3 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 2 |
| ACUFO: | Insufficient information. |
>[Ref. hws1:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:
During the closing months of the war our fighters chased weird colored balls of fire that suddenly disappeared.
By Harold T. Wilkins
[...] Three nights later they were again seen by a U.S. pilot flying in the same area. They were seen for a third time on the night of December 22-23, 1944, by a U.S. pilot flying a mission over the same area.
[...]
[Ref. tfo1:] GIANFRANCO DE TURRIS AND SEBASTIANO FUSCO:
These authors say that on November 27, 1944, in Mannheim, Germany, an American fighter on a mission with Lieutenant Pilot Henry Giblin and Lieutenant Radar Operator Walter Cleary on board, encountered an intensely bright orange sphere flying at a speed around 400 km/h.
[Ref. jce1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "JUST CAUSE":
The bulletin of "Citizens Against UFO Secrecy" (CAUS) published that they managed to get the first Foo Fighters official reports in the War diaries of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron and its summary. Extracts were cited, such as:
Frame 1611 begins coverage of the first Foo Fighter incident from an intruder mission out of Longvic Air Rase in France:
November 27 [1944]- "The following weird excerpt comes from Lt. Schlueter's report of an intruder mission: 'Upon returning to base saw a red light flying through area about 35 miles ENE of Pt. A. Came in to about 2000 feet off starboard and then it disappeared in a long red streak."
Comment: Interestingly, unless the War Diary omitted other incidents in late November, this account is quite different from the "first incident" reported in American Legion Magazine. This told of Schlueter and Meiers encountering eight to ten orange balls moving at terrific speed which disappeared, reappeared, stayed in view five minutes and then once again vanished.
[Ref. bgd1:] BARRY GREENWOOD:
Excerpt from a story about an incursion mission from the Longvic base in France:
November 27: the following bizarre extract is taken from the report of Lt. Shlueter on an incursion mission: "On returning to base, saw a red ball flying across the area about 35 miles east-northeast of point A. Approached about 2000 feet from starboard then disappeared in the form of a long red streak."
It is interesting to note that, unless the War Journal omitted other incidents in late November, this account is very different from the "first incident" reported in the American Legion Magazine. The latter evoked the encounter by Shlueter and Meiers of eight to ten orange balls, moving at a maddening speed, which disappeared, reappeared, remained visible for five minutes, and vanished again.
[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:
Between 18h00 and 19h30, Lt. Edward A. Schlueter pilot of a Beaufighter of the USAAF 415th Night Fighter Squadron (attached to the 64 Fighter Wing, Longvic Air Base, France) and his radar operator Lt Donald J. Meiers, were on an intruder mission reported that "Upon returning to base (Dijon-Ochey, France) saw a red light flying through area, came in to about 2,000 ft off starboard and then it disappeared in a long red streak".
Sources: USAAF 415th Night Fighter Squadron diary, November 1944, page 2 (classified secret) / Project 1947, Jan Aldrich / Strange Company, Keith Chester, 2007
(Ref. nip1:) "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
(1944) Nov. 26, 1944; Mannheim, Germany
Red light that disappeared in long red streak. (Page 93-94 Ref.1)
The reference 1 is described at the end of the document as "Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester".
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: Nov. 26, 1944
Location: Mannheim, Germany
Time:
Summary: Red light that disappeared in long red streak.
Source:
The case seems to have been entrered a second time with another date:
Date: Dec. 23/24, 1944
Location: Germany
Time:
Summary: Red streak in sky.
Source:
The Bristol Type 156 "Beaufighter", nicknamed "Beau", was a British multi-role aircraft developed during WWII. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber; it proved to be an effective night fighter, which came into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain.
Originally, armament consisted of four 20mm cannons and six 0.303-in machine-guns but many variants were built; for example, versions had the ability to additionally carry eight rocket projectiles, some had a Vickers 'K' gun, Beaufighter TF.Mk X was used for anti-shipping operations.
The Beaufighter Mk VIF was fitted with the Mark VIII radar.
Below: Beaufighter Mk VIF of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron.
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The Beaufighters served with the US Army Air Force until the end of the war, but most were replaced by the P-61 "Black Widow" beginning on March 20, 1945.
The crew of Lt. Edward A. Schlueter reported 3 different sightings of "Foo Fighters"; the Air Force reports were not declassified simultaneously, and one version was the non-official article by Jo Chammerlin in the American Legion magazine which mentionned only one of the 3 sightiongs by this crew. This is why there was some confusion in the first ufilogy sources, noting that one version was not the same as another. These were different observations, not different versions of the same observation.
The 415th NFS operated from Dijon-Longvic Airfield (Y-9) from September 25, 1944, to November 30, 1944, when they moved to the Toul-Ochey Airfield (A-96). They moved to Saint Dizier-Robinson Airfield (A-64) on March 18, 1945.
The observation took place on the return from a mission to Mannheim in Germany, returning to the Longvic base; we therefore do not know whether the observation took place in France or in Germany. I therefore keep the location "Mannheim" for pure convenience.
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We can somewhat forget all the explanations of the more or less advanced "German plane" type. None left a red streak.
The "least worst" prosaic explanation would be that the light was a meteor. Of course the information here is insufficient (no duration for example) to either confirm this or rule this out, and the numerous other reports with more details must be taken into account.
Also, in meteor cases, I quite easily find the other reports. A meteor is seen over quite a wide area and reports are generally numerous. With this case, I found nothing. This is not "bulletproof" that it was not a meteor, of course.
Insufficient information.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | November 9, 2023 | Creation, [jce1], [bgd1], [dwn2], [nip1], [tai1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | November 9, 2023 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | April 30, 2024 | Addition [hws1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | May 3, 2024 | Addition [tfo1]. |
