ACUFO:

A very early report has reached us through the courtesy of Miss O. M. Beaton, of Vancouver. Pilot Officer Roman Sobinski, later Captain of a bomber aircraft in 301R.A.F. Squadron and now living in Richmond, British Columbia, states that on March 25, 1942, at midnight he saw for about five minutes a round disc or sphere that was following his aircraft over the Zuider Zee, Holland, when returning from a bombing raid on Essen. His tail gunner reported it first and when Sobinski had confirmed the sighting and saw that the object was closing in on his aircraft fast he gave instructions to fire on it. Several rounds appeared to enter the object, but made no impression on it. The object was of a glowing orange colour. It appeared at 15,000 feet about 100 to 200 yards away. Its speed was estimated at 180 m.p.h., but disappeared at an estimated speed of 1,000 m.p.m. - Editor.

At midnight on 25 mars, the same year [1944] Pilot Officer Roman sobinski was returning from a bombing raid on Essen. While over the Zuider Zee, Holland, his tail gunner reported a round disc following their aircraft.

Sobinski saw that the object was closing in on his aircraft and gave instructions to fire on it. Several rounds appeared to enter the disc but made no impression. The object was of a luminous orange colour. It appeared at 15,000 feet about 100 to 200 yards away. Its estimated speed was 180 m.p.h., but it disappeared at an estimated 1,000 m.p.h. 74

- March 25, 1942: A story of "foo-fighter" or ghost hunter. Pilot Commander Roman Sobinski was returning from a bombing operation above Essen (Ruhr). While passing over the Zuiderzee in the north of Holland, his tail gunner reported a luminous orange disc following them. After various maneuvers to get rid of it, the order was given to the machine gunner to fire: several projectiles seemed to penetrate the luminous circle, but without result, although the object was at a good range (approximately 150 m). Finally the flying disc disappears at high speed.

1942/Ziuder Zee, Holland/Trench (1966)

As an orange disc followed the airplane the tail gunner fired at it leaving no impression on the object. It traveled at a speed of 180 mph, an altitude of 15,000 ft. and at a distance of 2,000 to 3,000 yd. The object left with a speed of 1,000 mph..

1942, March 25

NETHERLANDS, above the Zuiderzee

Commander-pilot Roman Sobinski was returning from a bombing operation above Essen (Germany, Ruhr). While passing over the Zuiderzee in the north of Holland, his tail gunner reported a luminous orange disc following them. After various maneuvers to get rid of it, the order was given to the machine gunner to fire: several projectiles seemed to penetrate the light circle, but without result, although the object was at a good range (approximately 150 m). Finally, the flying disc disappears at high speed. (Henry DURRANT: “The black book of the S.V.” – Laffont 1970 – p.76)

455: 1942/03/25 00:00 2 5:25:00 E 52:40:00 N 3333 WEU BNL NTH 6:8
ZUIDER ZEE,NETH:2 AIRMEN:BRIT.BOMBER FOLLOWED/ORG-GLO DISK:AWAY/1600km/HR
Ref#194 LUMIERES dans la NUIT.(LDLN France) Issue No. 330: IN-FLIGHT

357 The UFO encyclopedia vol. 2: From the beginning through 1959, J. Clark (Omnigraphics 1992)

March 25, 1942; Zuider Zee, Holland
An RAF bomber returning from a raid on Essen, Germany, was followed by a luminous orange disc or sphere. As it came closer the tail gunner opened fire on it, to no apparent effect. Finally it sped away at an estimated 1,000 m.p.h. (Ref. 3; Flying Saucer Review, March-April 1962.)

June 25, 1942; Holland
Shining copper object, like setting sun, the size of a full moon (Page 23-25 Ref. 1)

[...]

References:

Ref. 1, Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester

Among the other hypotheses mentioned to explain these phenomena, that of "ball lightning" is unconvincing because it lasts a short time. However, some planes were followed by Foo Fighters over quite long periods. Dr. Martin Altschuler, in Section VI of the Condon Report, offered the following explanation: it could be St. Elmo's fires - electricity created by corona effect. But, like ball lightning, these phenomena are short-lived. And these lights do not move, they remain motionless around an object (boat mast, airplane wing, church spire, etc.).

Dark balls and green lights

Here are some significant cases, taken from army archives or reported to investigators...

March 25, 1942: returning from a bombing operation above Essen (Germany), pilot commander Roman Sobinski flies over the Gulf of Zuiderzee (north of the Netherlands). His tail gunner reports that a sort of orange luminous disk is following them. The object is located approximately 150 meters from the plane. After a few maneuvers to try to escape, the order was given to the machine gunner to fire. Several projectiles hit the target. But nothing happens! Then the luminous circle disappears at a speed close to 1,600 km/h (Le livre noir des soucoupes volantes, by Henry Durrant).

The first detailed report of a foo fighter encounter came from Flight Lieutenant Roman Sabinski. A member of the 301 Squadron of a Polish division attached to the Royal Air Force (RAF), on either March 25 or June 25, 1942 (no exact report exists), Sabinski was flying a Wellington bomber over the Zuiderzee, off the coast of Holland. He and his crew were heading west, returning home from a bombing mission over Germany.

The flight had been routine until Sabinski's rear gunner called him on the plane's interphone. Some kind of flying object was approaching their plane from behind. Disk shaped and luminous, it seemed to be several miles away. Still, even at that distance it looked larger than the full moon.

Sabinski assumed the object was some type of enemy aircraft, so he directed the rear gunner to open fire as soon as it came in range. When the strange disk got within 200 yards of Sabinski's aircraft, the gunner did just that. Firing both tracer and standard machine gun rounds, he hit the target, but-in shades of the strange flying object that had appeared over Los Angeles earlier that year-his barrage had no effect. The rounds simply disappeared once they struck the disk.

This went on for about two minutes-the gunner firing but with no results. Then the object zoomed ahead, taking up a position about 200 yards off the Wellington's left wing. Now both the front and rear machine gunners were firing at it. But again, the object seemed impervious to bullets.

Sabinski began a series of evasive maneuvers, trying to shake whatever this thing was. But the object kept pace with him, always staying in the same position relative to his aircraft. Finally Sabinski gave up trying to elude it. His gunners made one last attempt to destroy their pursuer, but this failed as well.

A few moments later, the object moved to a point in front of the Wellington, remained there briefly, then shot straight up at tremendous speed and disappeared.

Shaken by the strange encounter, Sabinski nevertheless managed to return to base, getting his crew and plane home safely. As was standard procedure, he was immediately debriefed by his unit's intelligence officer. But when the Polish pilot revealed what he'd seen, the intelligence officer's only response was to ask Sabinski if he'd been drinking.

Later on, Sabinski talked with other members of his squadron and discovered that the crew of a Wellington traveling behind his plane had seen the strange flying object, too. But, fearing the same kind of ridicule that Sabinski had endured, this crew had not reported it.

Thus began what would become regular sightings by Allied airmen of unexplained aerial objects, flying not just over war-torn Europe but in the Pacific theater as well. They would have many names until christened foo Hghters two years later. "Unconventional aircraft." "Meteors." "Rockets." "Suspected secret weapons."

Whatever the label, though, and no matter how many attempts were made to explain the objects, they became a perplexing mystery, and in some cases, a dangerous distraction to the people who were in charge of winning the war.

In the European Theater, on March 25, 1942, the tail gunner in a Royal Air Force bomber flying over the Zuider Zee, Holland, returning from a raid on Essen, Germany, saw a glowing, orange disc or sphere following them. He told the pilot, who also saw the object closing in on them. When the object was about 100 or 200 yards from the plane, the gunner fired and hit the object, with no effect. The object finally disappeared.

[Richard Haines] "Accompanying a letter dated August 26, 1980, to myself, from Bob Gribble, phenomena researcher in Seattle, was a 30-minute audio tape which contained a number of interviews, with different pilots, of different sightings."

[Richard Haines] "This tape contains a repeat of one of those sightings, which took place in June 1942, of the infamous "Foo fighters", over Ruhr area of Germany, by flight lieutenant Roman Sabinski [or Sobinski], Squadron 301. Following his own description of what took place."

[Host voice] "Possibly the first record of a pilot firing at a UFO comes from former Flight Lieutenant Robert Sabinski [or Sobinski], Squadron 301 R.A.F. Polish division."

[Richard Haines] And it should be added that this transcript comes from a Long Play record entitled "UFO anonymous" produced in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, by the firm "UFO anonymous". The address 2148 McKid Crescent, Northeast, Calgary 62, Alberta, Canada."

[Witness voice] "In 1942 in June, we went on a bombing mission er... I was flying bombers, Wellingtons, over Ruhr, or otherwise so-called "Happy Valley", and the trip was... we perform everything what was necessary and dropped the bombs on the target and on the way back while we were flying over the, er... Zuider Sea, which is er... the part of Holland, my rear gunner reported an aircraft approaching from the rear."

[Witness voice] "I told him that if this object comes too close then we'll have to open the fire on him. And my idea was that perhaps it was a German fighter aircraft equipped with a searchlight in the nose. So when this thing came close I wouldn't take any chance on it and told my rear gunner to give him a blast."

[Witness voice] "So then he opened the fire on him, maybe 200 yards. And at that distance, this object was almost the size of the Moon which was also visible at the same time. Maybe possibly a bit bigger. We used the tracers in the machine guns, there are four machine in the rear turret and while this rear gunner was shooting we could follow exactly the trajectory of the shells which were entering the... that particular target."

[Witness voice] "Now the peculiar thing about it was that those were just going in and that was the end of it, they wouldn't fall down. And the so-called tracers, those tracer would just enter and that was it."

[Witness voice] "Now for, that lasted for possibly, I don't know, maybe two minutes. And after that time, the... er, this shining object suddenly changed the position and at a terrific speed moved over to our port side almost at the same distance, about 200 yards from the wing. Then it stayed there, of course then both the rear gunner and the front gunner opened the fire on my order and I could see the tracers entering the target again from under two angles at which I was sure that this was pretty close to 200 yards then, because you could see the angle of, er... crossing the tracers. After a while it moved up, it took off at a fantastic speed at the... at least 45 degrees angle and they just disappeared between the stars."

[Witness voice] "On doing the debriefing, which we always set up after each combat mission, the officer who was receiving this made a joke as of how many beers I had."

[Witness voice] "A few minutes after I had mind, er..."

[... other "Foo Fighters" cases...]

"Several projectiles seemed to enter the luminous disc, but without result, although the object was well within range, approximately 150 metres." – March 1942 encounter over the Ruhr Valley, Germany

A Polish-crewed Vickers Wellington bomber was returning from a raid on Essen just before midnight on 25th March 1942 when the aircraft’s rear gunner spotted a bright light approaching their aircraft. However, instead of a Luftwaffe night-fighter, it resembled a large fuzzy copper-colored ball, about the size of the Moon. Approaching within 200 yards of the bomber, the gunner opened fire, watching helplessly as his tracer rounds entered the ball of light to no visible effect. They did not come out the other side, nor did they inflict any appreciable damage. The strange light then shot forward and took up position off the Wellington’s port wingtip.

Now the aircraft’s nose turret guns could be brought to bear on the strange light, and both gunners blazed away at what was still thought to be a Luftwaffe night-fighter. The pilot executed a series of evasive maneuvers but could not shake the ball of light. It remained at the same fixed distance, seemingly undamaged, for several minutes until it finally flew around to a point ahead of the Wellington, remaining in place for a few seconds before shooting off into the distance and disappearing. Another crew flying behind the bomber also had their own encounter with the object but refused to report the incident for fear of ridicule.

[... other "Foo Fighters" cases...]

However, the August and November 1942 events were not the first reports of strange activity over the skies of Europe. There are references to an even earlier encounter, one involving the Polish crew of an RAF Wellington bomber over Holland at the end of March 1942. According to the pilot, Sergeant Roman Sobinski, a Polish pilot serving with the RAF, a bright orange object approached their aircraft from astern as they returned from a raid on Essen.

Sobinski emigrated to Canada after the war and was interviewed in the early 1960s about the incident. During the interview, he stated that he had ordered his tail gunner, Sergeant Stanislaw Sep-Szarzynski, to open fire with machine-guns on the object when it got close, but it appeared invulnerable to machine-gun fire:

"Now the peculiar thing about it was that they (the bullets) were just going in and that was the end of it; they wouldn’t fall away. Those tracers would just enter and that was it. That lasted for maybe two minutes and after that time this shiny object changed position and at terrific speed moved over to our port side, almost at the same distance, about 200 yards from the wing and then it stayed there."

The nose turret gunner, Sergeant Krzysztof Grabowski, also started firing at what was thought to be a German night-fighter. Once again, however, no discernible damage was inflicted on whatever was out there. Unbelievably, the brilliant orange object changed position for a second time, moving to a point ahead of the Wellington, whereupon it was fired on yet again by the nose turret gunner. After a few minutes of maintaining station with the bomber as it flew through the night skies over Occupied Europe, the mysterious object shot off into the distance at a 45 degree angle and was quickly lost to sight.

Returning to base, Sobinski was told by the pilot of another Wellington flying behind him that his crew had also seen the object. No note of the incident was made in the squadron’s mission records and no official reference to the event has ever been discovered elsewhere.

In 1942 in June, we went on a bombing mission er... I was flying bombers, Wellingtons, over Ruhr, or otherwise so-called "Happy Valley", and the trip was... we perform everything what was necessary and dropped the bombs on the target and on the way back while we were flying over the, er... Zuider Sea, which is er... the part of Holland, my rear gunner reported an aircraft approaching from the rear.

I told him that if this object comes too close then we'll have to open the fire on him. And my idea was that perhaps it was a German fighter aircraft equipped with a searchlight in the nose. So when this thing came close I wouldn't take any chance on it and told my rear gunner to give him a blast.

So then he opened the fire on him, maybe 200 yards. And at that distance, this object was almost the size of the Moon which was also visible at the same time. Maybe possibly a bit bigger. We used the tracers in the machine guns, there are four machine in the rear turret and while this rear gunner was shooting we could follow exactly the trajectory of the shells which were entering the... that particular target.

Now the peculiar thing about it was that those were just going in and that was the end of it, they wouldn't fall down. And the so-called tracers, those tracer would just enter and that was it.

Now for, that lasted for possibly, I don't know, maybe two minutes. And after that time, the... er, this shining object suddenly changed the position and at a terrific speed moved over to our port side almost at the same distance, about 200 yards from the wing. Then it stayed there, of course then both the rear gunner and the front gunner opened the fire on my order and I could see the tracers entering the target again from under two angles at which I was sure that this was pretty close to 200 yards then, because you could see the angle of, er... crossing the tracers. After a while it moved up, it zook off at a fantastic speed at the... at least 45 degrees angle and they just disappeared between the stars.