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ACUFO:

ACUFO is my comprehensive catalog of cases of encounters between aircraft and UFOs, whether they are “explained” or “unexplained”.

The ACUFO catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file.

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Neustadt, Germany, in the winter 1944-1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-00-00-NEUSTADT-1

Summary:

In 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Jo Chamberlin wrote the first non-military article, published in The American Legion Magazine in December 1945, about the Foo-Fighters, after interviewing witnesses in Europe and accessing mission reports.

After discussing the nocturnal sightings by airmen of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron operating in the Rhine Valley in the winter 1944-1945, he noted that daytime sightings had also occurred. As an example, he indicated that west of Neustadt, a P-47 pilot saw...

“... a gold-colored ball, with a metallic finish, which appeared to be moving slowly through the air. As the sun was low, it was impossible to tell whether the sun reflected off it, or the light came from within.”

He added that another P-47 pilot reported “a phosphorescent golden sphere, 3 to 5 feet in diameter, flying at 2,000 feet.”

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: Winter 1944-1945
Time: Day.
Duration: ?
First known report date: December 1945
Reporting delay: 1 year.

Geographical data:

Country: Germany
State/Department: Rhineland-Palatinate
City or place: Neustadt

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 2
Number of known witnesses: ?
Number of named witnesses: 0

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: Jo Chamberlin article.
Visibility conditions: Day.
UFO observed: Yes.
UFO arrival observed: ?
UFO departure observed: ?
UFO action: None.
Witnesses action:
Photographs: No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es): No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): No.
Witness(es) feelings: ?
Witnesses interpretation: ?

Classifications:

Sensors: [X] Visual: 2.
[ ] Airborne radar: N/A.
[ ] Directional ground radar:
[ ] Height finder ground radar:
[ ] Photo:
[ ] Film/video:
[ ] EM Effects:
[ ] Failures:
[ ] Damages:
Hynek: DD
Armed / unarmed: Armed, 8 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns.
Reliability 1-3: 1
Strangeness 1-3: 2
ACUFO: Possible weather balloon.

Sources:

[Ref. jcn1:] JO CHAMBERLIN:

[... Other cases...]

What the 415th saw at night was borne out in part by day. West of Neustadt, a P-47 pilot saw “a gold-colored ball, with a metallic finish, which appeared to be moving slowly through the air. As the sun was low, it was impossible to tell whether the sun reflected off it, or the light came from within.” Another P-47 pilot reported “a phosphorescent golden sphere, 3 to 5 feet in diameter, flying at 2,000 feet.”

[... Other cases...]

>[Ref. hws1:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:

The Strange Mystery Of The FOO FIGHTERS

During the closing months of the war our fighters chased weird colored balls of fire that suddenly disappeared.

By Harold T. Wilkins

[...]

There is the case of a U.S. bomber pilot of the 8th U.S. Air Force. He reported that he saw 15 foo fighters following his plane at a distance, with their lights winking on and off. A U.S. P-47 pilot saw 15 foo fighters by day at or near Neustadt in the same Rhenish area, some 40 miles west of the Rhine and 55 miles northwest of Strasbourg.

Here is his report:

“We were flying west of Neustadt when a golden sphere, which shone with a metallic glitter, appeared, slowly moving through the sky. The sun was not far above the sky line, which made it difficult to say whether or not the sun's rays were reflected from it or whether the glow came from within the ball itself.”

A second P-47 (Thunderbolt) pilot also saw the same or another “golden, or phosphorescent, ball which appeared to be about four or five feet in diameter flying 2,000 feet up.”

By this time the higher-ups in the U.S. Air Force had been forced to take notice of die increasing reports of level-headed pilot-observers. It was no longer enough to wave these reports away with a smile and half-serious reference to hallucination and combat-neuroses. Nor were the men satisfied at the explanation that they were flares. Whoever saw a flare that behaved as did the foo fighters? Flares are not maneuverable!

The final attempt at a brush-off came from New York, in January, 1945, when “scientists insulted the intelligence of the men of 415th. The New York scientific wallahs said the men of the 415th and the 8th Air Force had been seeing St. Elmo's lights! It may be noted that St. Elmo's lights are seen on sea and land in times of electrical meteorological conditions. They have been seen at the top of Pike's Peak, from ships' mast-heads, and from the tops of towers and spires. In the days of Julius Caesar there was one occasion when these lights flashed from the tops of the spears of his legionaries. In our own time the White Star Liner Germanic, in mid-Atlantic, ran into a heavy thunderstorm at 1 a.m. Electrical flames one-and-a-half-inch long jetted from the foremast truck and small balls, one-half inch to two and one-half inches long, ran up and down the mast but were tied to it.”

But what possible resemblance could there have been between these weird foo fighters, under intelligent control, and St. Elmo's lights?

[Ref. kap1:] KENNETH ARNOLD AND RAY PALMER:

A U.S. P-47 pilot saw 15 foo fighters by day at or near Neustadt in the same Rhenish area, some 40 miles west of the Rhine and 55 miles northwest of Strasbourg.

Here is his report:

“We were flying west of Neustadt when a golden sphere, which shone with a metallic glitter, appeared, slowly moving through the sky. The sun was not far above the sky line, which made it difficult to say whether or not the sun's rays were reflected from it or whether the glow came from within the ball itself.”

A second P-47 (Thunderbolt) pilot also saw the same or another “Golden or phosphorescent, ball which appeared to be about four or five feet in diameter flying 2,000 feet up.”

[Ref. hws2:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:

There is the case of a U.S. bomber pilot of the 8th U.S. Air Force. He reported that he saw fifteen of these Foo Fighters following his plane at a distance with their lights winking on and off. The fifteen Foo Fighters were seen, by day, at or near Neustadt, in the same Rhenish area, some 40 miles west of the Rhine, and 55 miles due north of Strasbourg, and the observer was a U.S. pilot flying a P.47 machine.

Here is his report:

“We were flying west of Neustadt when a golden sphere, which shone with a metallic glitter, appeared, slowly moving through the sky. The sun was not far above the sky line, which made it difficult to say whether or not the sun's rays were reflected from it, or whether the glow came from within the ball itself.”

A second P.47 pilot also saw the same, or another “golden, or phosphorescent ball,” which “appeared to be about four or five feet in diameter, and flying 2,000 feet up.”

[Ref. gcn1:] GORDON CREIGHTON:

... but it was not long before [After December 24, 1944] a U.S. pilot, flying a P-47, encountered fifteen of the “Foo Fighters” in broad daylight over Neustadt.

[Ref. jcf1:] JEROME CLARK AND LUCIUS FARISH:

Some time in late 1944, a P-47 pilot west of Neustadt, Germany, saw “a gold-colored ball with a metallic finish” moving slowly through the air. The sun was low in the sky so the observer could not tell if the sun was reflecting off the object or if the object had its own light source. A “phosphorescent golden sphere” three to five feet in diameter was seen by another P-47 pilot in the area.

[Ref. vgs1:] VINCENT GADDIS:

When these reports became known, other pilots told of their observations. The lights were seen not only at night, but occasionally during the day. A P-47 pilot, while west of Neustadt, saw “a gold-colored ball, with a metallic finish, which appeared to he moving slowly.” It was impossible to tell whether it was reflecting sunlight or the light came from within. Another pilot reported “a phosphorescent golden sphere, three to five feet in diameter, flying at 2,000 feet.”

[Ref. gld1:] GORDON LORE AND HAROLD DENEAULT:

In a rare daylight sighting, a P-47 pilot was able to describe a “Foo-fighter” that appeared to be constructed of metal. West of Neustadt, Germany, in 1944, the pilot observed “a gold-colored ball with a metallic finish” moving slowly through the air. The sun was low in the sky, making it impossible to tell whether the sun reflecting off the object or a light source from within was responsible for the weird lighting. A similar “foo-fighter”, “a phosphorescent golden sphere,” estimated to be 3 to 5 feet in diameter and flying at 2,000 feet was reported in the same area by another P-47 pilot.

[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:

Scan.

At Air Group level a more somber view set in pilots flying the P-47 Thunderbolts reported an increasing number of objects in the air they described as “golden balls”. Since the P-47s flew only daytime missions the phenomena being seen could not be tricks of light in the darkness.

[Ref. ara1:] ANTONIO RIBERA:

This Spanish ufologist reported in 1976 that during the Second World War, both Allied pilots and Axis aviators observed strange luminous phenomena which they most of the time described as "balls or spheres of fire" which seemed to want to follow their planes both in Europe and in the skies of the Far East.

Similar objects [flashing luminous balls] were observed in broad daylight in the Neustadt area by an American pilot flying a P-47.

He made the following report:

"As we flew west of Neustadt, we saw a golden sphere glowing with a metallic sheen moving slowly across the sky. As the sun was not high in the sky, it was not possible for us to determine whether the object was bright by itself or whether it was reflecting. the sun's rays."

The second pilot of the plane also saw this golden or phosphorescent ball, or perhaps another similar object. The craft "appeared to be approximately one meter in diameter and was flying at an altitude of 1,600 meters."

[Ref. pfe11:] PARIS FLAMMONDE:

This author - who claimed the World War II UFO sightings were sightings of German flying saucers - wrote:

However, all of the “foo-fighter sightings” (derived from the Smokey Stover comic-strip philosophy that “where there's foo, there's fire”.) were not nocturnal. A P-47 pilot contributed his daytime encounter with “a gold-colored ball, with a metallic finish.”

[Ref. ibl1:] ILLOBRAND VON LUDWIGER:

The glowing structures were occasionally observed during the day. A P-47 pilot noticed a golden ball that seemed to be slowly gliding through the air. It was difficult to say whether the ball glowed from within or was simply illuminated by the sun.

Another P-47 pilot told of a phosphorescent golden ball that was said to be about 1 to 15 m in size and flew at an altitude of 2000 feet.

[Ref. lwr1:] DR. LOUIS WINKLER:

Scan.

1944/Neustadt, Germany/Arnold-Palmer, Lore-Deneault

Fifteen glowing objects followed the airplane with their lights winking on and off. A gold colored ball was also seen moving slowly in the daylight.

[Ref. pre1:] PHILIP R. RIFE:

Later that same year [1944], American fighter pilots told of meeting up with a similar aerial phenomenon near the German city of Neustadt. Said one: "(It was) a gold-colored ball with a metallic finish. (It) appeared to be moving slowly through the air. As the sun was low, it was impossible to tell whether the sun reflected off it or the light came from within". Another described the foo fighter as "a phosphorescent golden sphere, three-to-five feet in diameter, flying at 2,000 feet." (275)

The source (275) is described as: "275. Nashville Tennessean Magazine, 10/30/1966".

[Ref. nck1:] NICK COOK:

A P-47 fighter pilot also reported seeing a “gold-colored ball with a metallic finish” west of Neustadt in broad daylight [...]

[Ref. kml1:] KEVIN MCCLURE:

This ufologist quotes from the American Legion Magazine article for December 1945, “titled 'The Foo Fighter Mystery', and written by one Jo Chamberlin:”

West of Neustadt, a P-47 pilot saw “a gold-colored ball, with a metallic finish, which appeared to be moving slowly through the air. As the sun was low, it was impossible to tell whether the sun reflected off it, or the light came from within.” Another P-47 pilot reported “a phosphorescent golden sphere, 3 to 5 feet in diameter, flying at 2,000 feet.”

[Ref. mse1:] MARCELLO SOAVE:

Chronology of sightings drawn up by Dr. Domenico Pasquariello of CEIFAN (Centre for Investigation of Anomalous Phenomena).

[... other cases...]

- Also in December 1944 the pilots of two American P-47 planes described in detail the sighting of luminous spheres west of Neustadt. The golden sphere shone with a metallic glow, suddenly appearing and moved slowly across the sky.

[... other cases...]

Aircraft information:

The Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt” was a powerful single-seat, single-engine fighter plane used to defend the bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces during their daytime raids over the Germany.

P-47.

Discussion:

Carte.

Ufologist Jan Aldrich at www.project1947.com/articles/amlfoo.htm explained the context of the article on the Foo Fighters by Jo Chamberlin:

In 1945, Lieutenant Colonel Jo Chamberlin was an aide to Commanding General of the U. S. Army Air Forces Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold. In the spring of 1945, he wrote articles for various magazines on air power and the war, donating any monies he received from his articles to charities for war widows and orphans.

In the Spring of 1945, he was in Europe and one of the first visit he made was the 415th Night Fighter Squadron (NFS) and other U.S. Army Air Forces units, to hear about the “Foo Fighters” they were encountering in their night missions of the valley of the Rhine.

Chamberlin encountered aircrews from other units who had also seen foo-fighters or had other daylight sightings of unknown objects. On his return to the US, he asked for and was supplied with intelligence reports on foo-fighters. He wrote an article about it, combining his notes and the documents he had obtained.

After a review by Army Air Force Intelligence, he rewrote the article, submitted it to Major Harold Augspurger, commander of the 415th NFS for his comments, and then sold the article to The American Legion magazine and once again donated his payment to charity. The article was long forgotten after WWII, and only surfaced again through Kenneth Arnold, who had become “the first ufologist”, and British ufologist Harold T. Wilkins in the 1950's.

Regarding this case, no date is given, it is just fairly certain that it must have happened between the fall of 1944 and the end of 1945, and probably in the winter of 1944-1945 like the other cases reported by Jo Chamberlin.

The little information given unfortunately does not permit to rule out on solid grounds that the sphere was a weather balloon. This explanation is obviously not proven; one might even think that a fighter pilot would not have been impressed by a weather balloon; but this explanation nonetheless remains possible.

Evaluation:

Possible weather balloon.

Sources references:

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

File history:

Authoring:

Main author: Patrick Gross
Contributors: None
Reviewers: None
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross November 3, 2023 Creation, [jcn1], [kap1], [gcn1], [gld1], [lwr1], [nck1].
1.0 Patrick Gross November 3, 2023 First published.
1.1 Patrick Gross November 12, 2023 Additions [lgs1], [jcf1].
1.2 Patrick Gross April 17, 2024 Addition [mse1].
1.3 Patrick Gross April 24, 2024 Addition [hws1].
1.4 Patrick Gross June 7, 2024 Additions [kml1], [ara1].
1.5 Patrick Gross June 13, 2024 Addition [gld1].
1.6 Patrick Gross July 17, 2024 Additions [hws2], [ibl1].
1.7 Patrick Gross July 22, 2024 Additions [pfe1], [pre1].

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This page was last updated on July 22, 2024.