ALSACAT-1944-12-14-ERSTEIN-1
In the December 1944 operations log of the 415th NFS, an American night fighter squadron based at Ochey, France, an excerpt said that an airman saw a brilliant red light at 2000 feet going east at 200 miles per hour, in the sector of Erstein, at 06:40 p.m. on December 14, 1944.
The on board radar set being non-operational, he could not check radar contact, but he followed it with his eyes until it went out.
He could not get close enough to identify the object before it went out.
In his report of January 30, 1945, to the Tactical Air Command, the 415th NFS intelligence officer, Fred Ringwald, had compiled observations by this unit of the so-called "foo fighters", and indicated for this one that it had taken place on the night of 14 to 15 December 1944. He added that the light was big.
Ringwald stated that in all cases he listed where the pilot had called the radar station on the ground and asked if there was any aircraft detected in the area, he had received a negative answer.
Another of his logs said: "December 14/15, 1944 - Mission 1 - 1735-1915 - Saw light which appeared to be 4 or 5 times larger than a star going about 700 MPH near Erstein. Couldn't get sighting - Poor visibility."
| Date: | December 14, 1944 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 06:40 p.m. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | December 1944 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, days. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Erstein |
| Place: | From a Bristol Beaufighter at 330 meters in the vicinity of Erstein, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 48.423 |
| Longitude: | 7.662 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 10 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult. |
| Witness(es) types: | Military pilot. |
| Reporting channel: | US Army Air Force mission report. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From a Bristol Beaufighter at 330 meters, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | Puzzled. |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Unidentified, low strangeness. |
[Ref. usa1:] US ARMY AIR FORCE - 415TH NFS WAR DIARY:
S E C R E T
WAR DIARY
415 NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON
[.. Unrelated information...]
OCHEY AIR BASE, FRANCE - DECEMBER 1944
15. The following is an excerpt from the operations report: "Saw a brilliant red light at 2000 feet going E at 200 MPH in the vicinity of Erstein. Due to AI failure could not pick up contact but followed it by sight until it went out. Could not get close enough to identify object before it went out."
[... unrelated information...]
And:
December 14/15, 1944 - Mission 1 - 1735-1915 - Saw light which appeared to be 4 or 5 times larger than a star going about 700 MPH near Erstein. Couldn't get sighting - Poor visibility.
[Ref. rwd1:] FRED B. RINGWALD, INTELLIGENCE, US ARMY AIR FORCE:
Note: the document that follows was retrieved by Jan Aldrich's historical ufology effort Project 1947, at www.project1947.com/fig/1945a.htm
Only the header, the footer and the part related to the case documented in this file are shown.
Only other cases are removed, as they are shown in their own case file in this catalog.
|
S E C R E T
1st W/Ind
D-W-2
HEADQUARTERS XII TACTICAL AIR COMMAND, APO #374, U.S. Army, 23 January 1945.
TO: S-2, 415 Night Fighter Squadron.
Forwarded for compliance with paragraph 2 of 1st Ind.
[Signature]
LEAVITT CORNING, JR,.
Lt. Colonel, G.S.C,.
A/C of S, A-2.
2nd W/Ind
415th. NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON, APO #374, U. S. Army, 30 January 1945.
TO: AC of S A-2. XII Tactical Air Command, APO 374, U. S. Army.
1. In compliance with paragraph 2 of Ist. Ind., the following extracts from the Sortie reports of various pilots who have encountered the Night Phenomenon are submitted for your information.
[... other cases...]
|
Night of 14-15 December 1944 - "In vicinity of Erstein (V-9381) flying at 1000 ft. observed large red light at 2000 ft. going East at 18:40 hrs. Travelling at approximately 200 MPH"
[... other cases...]
S E C R E T
S E C R E T
2nd. W/Ind., 415th. Night Fighter Squadron, 30 January 1945 Con't.
[... other cases...]
Night of 29-30 January 1945 - "At about 00:10 hrs. sighted a Foofighter about half way between Weissembourg [sic] and Landau. Foofighter was off to the starboard and rear at Angels 2. Lights were amber and one was 20 -50 ft. above the other and of about 30 seconds duration. Foofighter was about 1000 ft. away and following. The lights were about a foot in diameter. Lights disappeared when Travel 34 turned into them."
|
2. In every case where pilot called GCI Control and asked if there was a Bogey A/C in the area he received a negative answer.
[Signature.]
F. B. Ringwald
Captain, A.C.
Intelligence Officer
* Foofighters is the name given these phenomenon by combat crews of this Squadron.
S E C R E T
[Ref. awn1:] SARASOTA "HERALD-TRIBUNE":
Some excerpts from the unit's [415th NFS] log:
[...]
Dec. 15, 1944: A pilot's mission report stated: 'Saw a brilliant red light at 2,000 feet going east at 200 miles per hour in the vicinity of Erstein. Due to AI failure, could not pick up contact but followed it by sight until it went out. Could not get close enough to identify object before it went out."
[Ref. jve1:] JACQUES VALLEE:
Lieutenants Henry Giblin and Walter Cleary saw a huge fiery object above their plane on November 27, 1944 at Speyer, Germany.
[... other cases...]
But observations of this type are not very conclusive; enormous orange lights can be caused by reflections or even by phenomena of atmospheric distortion, as Dr. Menzel has pointed out.
[... other case...]
The lights seen at night by pilots during the war have been called "foo-fighters." As we have seen, they were merely balls of light, red or orange, without details or structure. They do not seem to have been detected on radar. Seen at night or during the day, they followed the planes even into the clouds. But these reports have to be considered with caution, for the behavior of the objects is very often that of a distorted image of the aircraft itself or a reflection of some ground object. The wartime conditions, the birth of a new technology involving rockets, electronic guidance and the ever-present fear of "secret weapons" make the sightings of that period difficult to analyze.
[Ref. gld1:] GORDON LORE AND HAROLD DENEAULT:
The authors indicate that in the early morning of a November evening in 1944, Lieutenant Henry Giblin of Santa Rosa, California, and his radar observer, Lieutenant Walter Cleary of Worcester, Massachusetts, were flying at 1,000 feet when they saw a "huge red light" about 1,000 feet above them. They clocked the object at 200 miles per hour.
The authors indicated that the source is the American Legion Magazine December 1945, in the article "The Foo Fighters Mystery" by Joe Chamberlain.
[Ref. mbd1:] MICHEL BOUGARD:
The author indicates that on November 27, 1944, Lieutenants Henry Giblin and Walter Cleary were on a mission in the area south of Mannheim when, above Speyer, they saw a huge orange luminous ball moving at a speed of 400 km/h, barely 500 m above their aircraft. The radars remained silent, indicating that there was nothing in the sky at the time of the sighting.
[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. Extracts were cited, such as:
About two weeks passed [starting on November 27, 1944] before the next encounter. This time the 415th had been moved to Ochey Air Base, France. Frame 1613 relates:
December 15 [1944] - "The following is an excerpt from the operations report: 'Saw a brilliant red light at 2000 feet going E at 200 MPH in the vicinity of Ernstein [sic]. Due to AI (Air Intercept radar) failure could not pick up contact but followed it by sight until it went out. Could not get close enough to identify object before it went out.'"
[Ref. gld1:] GORDON LORE AND HAROLD DENEAULT:
The following evening [December 24, 1944], again at 10,000 feet, the same two men observed a single, mysterious "red flame" on another mission.
The authors indicated that the source is the American Legion Magazine December 1945, in the article "The Foo Fighters Mystery" by Joe Chamberlain.
[Ref. jce2:] BULLETIN D'UFOLOGIE "JUST CAUSE":
The Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) newsletter reported that on September 3, 1992, their editor Barry Greenwood searched the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland, USA, to find more documents on the Foo-Fighters emanating from of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, and had found some, mainly "Mission Reports". Barry Greenwood reported:
[...]
Archives personnel provided a large cardboard box holding three feet of file folders of the 415th NFS and affiliated bomber groups. The period covered was late September 1944 - April 1945. It was obvious that I would spend at least a full day scanning this bunch. The records were not in the best condition, a fact which should be of great concern to those interested in the contents of old files, not just on this but on any subject. Many of the papers were onion-skin copies, very fragile and yellowing. Other reports were on coarse, brown paper which was very brittle, flakes of which were coming off on my hands. It was no longer surprising why quite often when CAUS would request and receive government files the copies were difficult, and sometimes impossible, to read. We are in a race against time as many government records are literally self-destructing on the shelf. With the millions of copies for which the National Archives is responsible, there is simply not enough staff or resources to take care of it all.
What also became clear is that the staff of the National Archives are not absolute authorities on the records that we have obtained regarding UFOs. The response I had to a request for help in locating a particular Air Force document with an identifying number was, "Good luck, we don't know." Not that they were being fresh but that the Air Force had lost the inventory to that group of documents. I had a new appreciation for the time delays in responding to FOIA requests as well. It took me the best part of a day just to scan one box thoroughly. I was in a room with about thirty to forty people, all of whom had their own agenda and own piles of paper to scan. Factor in mail requests and the demands on the staff must be terrific. I heard a complaint by one of having to pull hundreds of boxes himself to fulfill researchers’ requests just for that day.
The 415th's mission reports tended to be brief in their descriptions of everything. There were reports of aircraft destroyed, buildings bombed, flak, vehicles destroyed; etc. Then, scattered amongst the information, were reports of strange lights in the sky.
He then gave the 15 such cases he found, including:
December 14/15, 1944 - Mission 1 - 1735-1915 - Saw light which appeared to be 4 or 5 times larger than a star going about 700 MPH near Erstein. Couldn't get sighting - Poor visibility.
Greenwood noted:
One frustrating feature of these reports is their brevity. It is difficult to form a hypothesis on the origin of Foo-Fighters when such fragmentary information is available. It is sometimes hard to tell whether reports of "lights" by the pilots were in the air or on the ground so one should exercise caution when reading reports where this is not clear.
[Ref. bgd1:] BARRY GREENWOOD:
This time, the 415th had been moved to Ochey, France. Plate 1613 reports:
December 15: "The following is from the operations report: "Observed a bright red light at 2000 feet heading east at 200 miles per hour, in the vicinity of Ernstein [sic]. Due to a failure of my interception radar, I was unable to lock the phenomenon, but followed it visually until it went out. Couldn't get close enough to identify the object before it disappeared."
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
521: 1944/12/15 00:00 1 9:21:00 E 49:19:00 N 3331 WEU GER RHP 5:7
ERNSTEIN [sic],GERMANY:415th BOMBER SQDR:BRILL.FBL/2K'alt:200mph:RDR EMEs:/r153p16
Ref#226 PHENOMENA bimonthly. SOS-OVNI France Issue No. 12: IN-FLIGHT
[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:
At 18h40, Lt Henry Giblin (pilot) and Lt Walter Cleary (radar operator) were flying their Beaufighter (USAAF 415th NFS) near Erstein (V-9381 ). They saw a brilliant red light at 2,000 ft going East at 200 mph. The red light appeared 4 or 5 times larger than a star. Due to A.I. (radar) failure the crew could not pick up contact, but followed it by sight as they pursued the light around an altitude of 1,000 feet, hoping to get close to have a better look. Finally the red light went out as it simply disappeared.
Sources: USAAF 415th Night Fighter Squadron diary, December 1944, abstract from the operation report (classified secret) / USAAF, Report from Captain F.B. Ringwald, Intelligence Officer, 415th Night Fighter Squadron, To A/C of S,A-2 XII Tactical Air Command, January 30, 1945, NARA I Strange Company, Keith Chester, 2007
(Ref. nip1:) "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
(1944) Dec. 14/15, 1944; Erstein, Germany
Brilliant red light & appeared to be 4 or 5 times larger than a star going 200 mph. (Page 96,130 Ref.1)
The reference 1 is described at the end of the document as "Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester".
[Ref. cvn2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:
Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book telling the story of UFO sightings, flying saucers sightings, in Alsace, from the beginning to 1980.
In this book, he wrote a chapter about the "Foo Fighters" with a general presentation of the topic followed by a chronology of cases.
He says that from the end of September to the end of November 1944, the US 415th Night Fighter Squadron was based on the Dijon Longvic air base, before moving to the old Toul air base on the plate of Ochey, rebuilt by the US military with an artificial landing strip.
One of the reported observation was on December 15, 1944, and he quotes:
"Saw brilliant red light at 2000 feet, going eastward at a speed of 200 miles / hour (320 km / h) near Erstein. Following failure of on board instrumentation, was not able to contact but followed at eyesight until disappearance. Did not get near enough to identify it."
He indicates that this is a translated extract of "War Diaries et Unit Reporting" - 415th Night Fighter Squadron, Ochey Air Base, France, according to Barry Greenwood, in Just Cause #32 and #33, CUFON - Computer UFO Network - Seattle, Washington, USA.
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: Dec. 14/15, 1944
Location: Erstein, Germany
Time:
Summary: Brilliant red light & appeared to be 4 or 5 times larger than a star going 200 mph.
Page 96,130 Ref.1
|
|
Jacket badge of the US 415th Night Fighters Squadron, |
Crews of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Force reported their nocturnal observations of what they called "Foo Fighters" above the Rhine valley then occupied by the Germans, between November 1944 and April 1945, as their base was in Dijon and Ochey in France.
Their plane at the time of these events was the British Bristol Beaufighter (Image below), often called "Beau" in the operations reports.
Their reports about "Foo-Fighters" apparently ceased when the Germans lost the West banks of the Rhine Valley.
About this sighting:
Erstein is in France, about 17 km to the south of Strasbourg.
The moon - one may think of a red moon or a moon partially hidden by clouds - can be excluded, it set down at 4 p.m.. And Mars was down since 03:44 p.m. The mission started at 05:35 p.m.
Unidentified, low strangeness.
* = 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 | March 27, 2017 | Creation, [usa1], [rwd1], [awn1], [nip1], [awn1], [cvn2], [tai1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | March 27, 2017 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | April 14, 2024 | Additions [jve1], [gld1], [mbd1], [jce1], [jce2], [bgd1], [lhh1], [dwn2], [nip1]. |
