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Germany and Austria, Fall and Winter 1944 - 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1944-09-00-GERMANY-1

Summary:

The U.S. ufology group National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), in the 1960's, recorded in their archive an article in the newspaper The Houston Post for July 7, 1947, about a WWII veteran who explained that the “flying disks” so much talked about in July 1947 were not a new thing for him, as he had knowledge of the “nazi aerial devices” or “foo fighters” he encountered over Germany, in daytime, during the Fall and Winter of 1944-45.

The veteran was introduced by the newspaper as Charles Odom, former B-17 pilot living in Houston, 23, 8210 Garland.

He told that the devices “looked like crystal balls, clear, about the size of basketballs,” that they were seen often over Vienna, Munich, and other larger target areas.

He told they would approach to within 300 feet of plane formation, “then would seem to become magnetized to our formation and fly alongside. They never came closer than 300 feet,” and “after a while, they would peel off like a plane and leave.”

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. nip1:] NICAP:

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

[Ref. jvb1:] JOHANNES VON BUTLAR:

[Ref. jvb2:] JOHANNES VON BUTLAR:

[Ref. nck1:] NICK COOK:

See here for comments about the theory in this book.

[Ref. sua1:] WEBSITE "SATURDAY NIGHT UFORIA":

[Ref. jsn1:] JEAN-CLAUDE SIDOUN:

The author indicates that in the fall of 1944, pilot Charles Odom described his unusual encounter while flying over Germany with this account:

- They looked like crystal balls the size of a basketball. They were most often observed over Munich, Vienna and other targets particularly targeted by bombers. They never got closer than 100 yards. They seemed attracted to our formation, like a magnet, and we flew side by side. After a while, they would turn away and disappear.

The author indicates further on in his book that in late December 1944, while flying over Germany, the American B-17 pilot Charles Odom reported his encounter with weird flying balls:

- They looked like crystal balls the size of a basketball. They were observed over Munich and other targets particularly targeted by bombers. They never got closer than 100 meters. They then seemed to be attracted to our formation, like a magnet, and we flew side by side. After a while, they disappeared.

The author indicates that the source is “UFO: we are not alone, Johannes von Butlar, France-Loisirs publishers, Presses de la Cité, 1977, page 16.”

Aircraft information:

The US B-17 “Flying Fortress” was a heavy bomber fitted with five 7.62 machine guns for its defense against enemy fighter planes.

Discussion:

The sighting by Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947 while he was piloting his plane over Washington state had been a trigger for an enormous press interest in what were then called “flying discs”; it was in this context that Charlee Odom also recounted his experiences, like many others who declared having seen mysterious flying machines before Kenneth Arnold, but had often said nothing about it, such events being beyond any reference.

The report is obviously not very detailed as to dates and places; the journalistic context then did not have these kinds of requirements. We will therefore note that a B-17 pilot of the US Army Air Force testified by name to observations of the presence in the skies of Germany in autumn - winter 1944 - 1945 of unidentified flying objects, in the form of shiny balls, in broad daylight, which approached the bombers, accompanied them, then left. These objects were obviously not “Nazi devices”, although it is not surprising that this was assumed at the time.

Evaluation:

Possible extraterrestrial craft.

Sources references:

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

• [hpt1] ? Article in the newspaper The Houston Post, Houston, Texas, USA, page 1, July 7, 1947.
• [nip1] * Summary of the article in the newspaper The Houston Post for July 7, 1947, in the archive of the ufology group National Investigation Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), USA, the 1960's.
• [jcf1] * "The mysterious 'Foo Fighters' of WW II", article by Jerome Clark and Lucius Farish, in SAGA UFO Report, USA, Spring 1975.
• [jvb1] * "The UFO Phenomenon", book by Johannes von Butlar, page 16, Sidgwick and Jackson publishers, U-K., 1979.
• [jvb1] * "OVNI - Nous ne somme pas seuls", book by Johannes von Butlar, France-Loisirs publishers, France, page 16, 1979.
• [nck1] * "The Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology", book by Nick Cook, Broadway books publishers, USA, page 42, 2001.
• [sua1] * "the foo fighters of world war II - Part Three of Three Parts", web page on the Saturday Night Uforia website, 2011, at https://saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/foofightersofworldwariipartthree.html
• [jsn1] * "L'Enigme des Foo-Fighters", book by Jean-Claude Sidoun, JMG publisher, France, page 104, pp 71-72, 2022.

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This page was last updated on June 14, 2024.