ACUFO-1944-09-29-RECHLINROGGENTIN-1
Didier Serres, a former French journalist, published his first of three UFO books in 1970, titled “Le Livre Noir des Soucoupes Volantes”, under the pseudonym of “Henry Durrant”.
In this book, in a section about WWII Foo Fighters, he claimed that the German pilots too saw unidentified flying objects, thinking that they wre secret weapons of the Allied. He described a few cases, including one on September 29, 1944, at 10:45 a.m., at the Rechlin-Roggenthin [sic] Test Center.
Durrant claimed that at 12,000 meters, a test pilot of “Erprobungskommando 162” whose identity was not provided “in the report” was testing a new Messerschmitt Me-262 “Schwalbe” jet, when his attention was attracted by two luminescent spots to his right. Going full throttle, Durrant says, he found himself in the presence of a cylindrical body more than 100 meters long; on the side, a few round openings in the form of portholes; from the front to half the length, vertical rods, maybe metallic, in the form of antennae; no wings; speed exceeding 2,000 km/h.
The pilot, Durrant says, approached it to within 500 meters for a few seconds and was able to observe it.
Durrant says the pilot was interrogated by “Special Bureau 13” and had to draw a sketch of what he had seen, and it was “on this occasion that Prof. Dr. H. Frazer presented his theory of the protective magnetic field adjustable at will.”
Durrant indeed claimed that the German pilot sightings had resulted in the establishment by the nazis of a special UFO office called “Sonderbüro 13” conducting a UFO study project called “Uranus”.
Durrant provided no source at all for any of his claims about UFO sightings and studies in nazi Germany; but what he told was later told by other authors in several French UFO booky.
In 1978, the German scientist and ufologist Illo Brand von Ludwiger reported this observation, but having sought to verify Henry Durrant's assertions, he wrote:
- The latest reports cited here were written by French journalist Henry Durrant, who was able to use historical sources from the British intelligence service. The author's inquiries with German military history institutes have not yet yielded confirmation. Apparently, these reports remained unknown to the vast majority of the general staff and were accessible only to a small circle of the intelligence community.
An informant who worked as a graduate engineer in Rechlin from 1935 to 1945 had never heard of the "Foo Fighters" or a U 13 investigation group. An inquiry to the general director of the Task Force for defense research in Stuttgart was equally negative (Hümmelchen 1978). The Federal Military Archive in Freiburg also did not know that a special office No. 13 had been established to investigate reports of the "Foo Fighters" (Albinus 1978). Requests for information from Lieutenant General Dipl.-Ing. Frodl, retired Major General Adolf Galland (former fighter pilot general), retired General Josef Kammhuber (night fighter general from 1940 to 1943, Commander-in-Chief of the 5 Air Fleet in Norway/Finland from North from 1943 to 1944 and general representative of jet aviation from February 1945 until the end of the war), of Dipl.-Ing. Carl Francke (head of Heinkel development of the HE 162 and technical director of the Rechlin test center until the end of the war) and Dipl.-Ing. Wolfram Eisenlohr, a retired Luftwaffe general engineer, also did not provide information confirming this information. Even General Wehnelt, Deputy Commander of Allied Air Forces in Central Europe until June 30, 1976, had no knowledge of such events (Frodl, Galland, Kammhuber, Francke, Eisenlohr, Wehnelt 1978).
The only clue came from an inquiry with engineer Carl G. Henze, a writer specializing in military aviation and defense technology. During his many years of service in the old Lutfwaffe, he had heard of the unknown missiles in question, but knew nothing of a special office that investigated these reports (Henze 1978).
Another clue was provided by a Stuttgart professor who had previously worked on defense under Canaris. In fact, it could be Professor Georg Kamper, who had created a special U13 group. Scientists in this department have themselves developed models and conducted research on information theory (hyperspace, etc.). At the same time, this group was responsible for evaluating reports of unidentified enemy missiles (Walter 1979).
Rolf Engel, rocket engineer, space historian and advisor to Office VI of the Abwehr under Schellenberg in 1944, was also aware of the existence of a special office 13 without knowing its task in more detail.
French journalist and historian Henry Durrant reports that Special Bureau No. 13 worked under the code name "Operation Uranus" and was composed of flight officers, aeronautical engineers and scientific advisors. During the last years of the war, the department compiled numerous reports, photographs and films of strange flying objects. During test flights with the Messerschmitt 163, also called "Komet" or "Kraftei", it is said that in two cases it was even possible to film very large "flying cigars" (Durrant 1970, p. 86).
It is difficult to judge whether these statements are true; Professor Kamper and other direct witnesses are no longer alive today.
In 1979, French ufologist Thierry Pinvidic, in his book “Le Nœud Gordien ou la Fantastique Histoire des ovni”, discussed about “certain fantastic stories circulate about German secret weapons, and “UFOs” allegedly observed by certain authorities of the 3rd Reich” and alleged studies on this subject by experts from the Peenemünde base. He cites this case, without giving a source, then curiously approaches the idea that one claims it was the Nazis themselves who would have built a “V-7” flying saucer, an idea that he refutes with the good arguments that we know elsewhere.
He then explains how he tried to contact German authorities in this field, such as Professor Hermann Oberth, pioneer of the German rocket program during WWII, and others, all explaining that they had heard nothing about UFO reports or UFO studies by the Germans during WWII.
In the quarterly ufology magazine OVNI-Présence No 27 of September 1983, Thierry Pinvidic explained that Durrant had invented the story of “Sonderbüro No. 13” and only admitted it after Pinvidic's “investigation in Germany.” Pinvidic explains that Durrant told him that he made up these stories as a “copycat trap” to fool ufologists “who, as usual, repeat information without verifying it.”
| Date: | September 29, 1944 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 1970 |
| Reporting delay: | 2 decades |
| Country: | Germany |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania |
| City or place: | Roggentin |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Reporting channel: | Henry Durrant UFO book. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | ? |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| UFO action: | Goes away. |
| Witnesses action: | Approach. |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1
[ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | ? |
| Armed / unarmed: | ? |
| Reliability 1-3: | 1 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 3 |
| ACUFO: | Invention by author Henry Durrant. |
[R f. hdt1:] "HENRI DURRANT":
On September 29, 1944, at 10:45 a.m., at the Rechlin-Roggenthin Test Center, at 12,000 m, a pilot (identity not provided in the report) was testing a new Messerschmitt ME 262 Schwalbe jet. (Recall that this is where the “Erprobungskommando 162” was based, commanded by Oberstleutnant Heintz Bar, an ace with more than 200 victories; this special group of test pilots was better known as the “Volksjäger-Erprobungskommando.”) His attention was attracted by two luminescent spots to his right. Going full throttle, he found himself in the presence of a cylindrical body more than 100 m long; on the side, a few round openings in the form of portholes; from the front to half the length, vertical rods (metallic?) in the form of antennae; no wings; speed exceeding 2,000 km/h. The pilot approached it to within 500 m for a few seconds and was able to observe it. He was interrogated by Special Bureau 13 and had to draw a sketch of what he had seen. It was on this occasion that Prof. Dr. H. Frazer presented his theory of the protective magnetic field adjustable at will.
[Ref. tfo1:] GIANFRANCO DE TURRIS AND SEBASTIANO FUSCO:
These authors say that on September 29, 1944 at Rechlin-Roggenthin in Germany, the test flight of a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter was followed by two bright spots. Gliding towards them, the pilot finds himself in the presence of a cylindrical body more than 100 meters long, which is observed for a few seconds about half a kilometer away, then moves away and disappears. The authors say the report was sent to Special Office no. 13.
[Ref. pvy1:] PIERRE VIEROUDY:
On September 29, 1944, a German pilot from the Rechlin-Roggenthin test center was testing a Messerschmitt 262 at an altitude of twelve thousand meters when he found himself in the presence of a cylindrical object more than a hundred meters long, comprising a few round openings in the form of portholes and vertical rods. The speed of the object was estimated at more than two thousand kilometers per hour. The pilot approached it to within five hundred meters and was able to take a closer look at it.
[Ref. ynd1:] YVES NAUD:
But the most convincing testimony retained by the Sonderb ru is that of a military aviation ace.
On September 29, 1944, at 10 a.m. 45, this test pilot was testing a new Messerschmitt ME 262 Schwalbe jet, when his attention was suddenly attracted by two luminous dots located to his right. He dives full throttle in this direction and finds himself “facing a cylindrical body more than a hundred meters long with a few openings on the side, and equipped with long antennae placed from the front up to half the length”. Having reached 500 meters from the craft, the pilot realizes that it is moving at more than 2000 kilometers per hour!
[R f. fgs1:] FRANCOIS GARDES:
The Germans had made findings just as worrying [as those of the Allies in 1939-1945]. Their aviators had encountered silent, cigar-shaped aerial vehicles, about a hundred meters long. Impossible that these were Allied airships. They disappeared at supersonic speeds as soon as one approached them. On the experimental bases from which the first V 2 rockets were launched, specialists discovered to their amazement that flying discs accompanied the top-secret prototypes as they circled around. Reports, photographs, films... A special investigation office had been created, “Sonderburo No. 13”. It was made up of scientists, engineers and senior officers from the Air Force. It had the same fate as the Massey commission. On both sides of no man's land, the belligerents had mutually reassured each other thanks to the osmosis of their intelligence services. These supersonic and silent machines did not belong to the arsenal of enemy secret weapons. Why worry too much about it...
[Ref. ibl1:] ILLOBRAND VON LUDWIGER:
On September 29, 1944, a test pilot tested a new Messerschmitt jet fighter at Rechlin Roggenthin. He climbed at 10:45 a.m. with a ME 262 Schwalbe to a height of 12,000 m. (Rechlin-Roggenthin was also the base of the "VolksjägerErprobungskommmando" of ace pilot Lieutenant Colonel Heintz Bär, and was led by Bär himself, who had achieved more than 20 aerial victories). Suddenly, the pilot saw two spots of light to his right. He flew directly towards the objects and found that it was a cylindrical body about 100 meters long with a series of portholes on the side. From the front, approximately in the middle of the device, vertical rods (metallic?), comparable to antennas, protruded upwards. The aircraft had no wings and flew at around 2000 km/h. The pilot approached to within about 500 meters and was able to study the object for a few more seconds.
He was then interrogated at length by a special service operating under the code name U 13 and had to make detailed sketches. On this occasion, one Professor Dr. H. Frazer presented a theory according to which strong magnetic fields could be possibly used to protect missiles.
- The latest reports cited here were written by French journalist Henry Durrant, who was able to use historical sources from the British intelligence service. The author's inquiries with German military history institutes have not yet yielded confirmation. Apparently, these reports remained unknown to the vast majority of the general staff and were accessible only to a small circle of the intelligence community.
An informant who worked as a graduate engineer in Rechlin from 1935 to 1945 had never heard of the "Foo Fighters" or a U 13 investigation group. An inquiry to the general director of the Task Force for defense research in Stuttgart was equally negative (Hümmelchen 1978). The Federal Military Archive in Freiburg also did not know that a special office No. 13 had been established to investigate reports of the "Foo Fighters" (Albinus 1978). Requests for information from Lieutenant General Dipl.-Ing. Frodl, retired Major General Adolf Galland (former fighter pilot general), retired General Josef Kammhuber (night fighter general from 1940 to 1943, Commander-in-Chief of the 5 Air Fleet in Norway/Finland from North from 1943 to 1944 and general representative of jet aviation from February 1945 until the end of the war), of Dipl.-Ing. Carl Francke (head of Heinkel development of the HE 162 and technical director of the Rechlin test center until the end of the war) and Dipl.-Ing. Wolfram Eisenlohr, a retired Luftwaffe general engineer, also did not provide information confirming this information. Even General Wehnelt, Deputy Commander of Allied Air Forces in Central Europe until June 30, 1976, had no knowledge of such events (Frodl, Galland, Kammhuber, Francke, Eisenlohr, Wehnelt 1978).
The only clue came from an inquiry with engineer Carl G. Henze, a writer specializing in military aviation and defense technology. During his many years of service in the old Lutfwaffe, he had heard of the unknown missiles in question, but knew nothing of a special office that investigated these reports (Henze 1978).
Another clue was provided by a Stuttgart professor who had previously worked on defense under Canaris. In fact, it could be Professor Georg Kamper, who had created a special U13 group. Scientists in this department have themselves developed models and conducted research on information theory (hyperspace, etc.). At the same time, this group was responsible for evaluating reports of unidentified enemy missiles (Walter 1979).
Rolf Engel, rocket engineer, space historian and advisor to Office VI of the Abwehr under Schellenberg in 1944, was also aware of the existence of a special office 13 without knowing its task in more detail.
French journalist and historian Henry Durrant reports that Special Bureau No. 13 worked under the code name "Operation Uranus" and was composed of flight officers, aeronautical engineers and scientific advisors. During the last years of the war, the department compiled numerous reports, photographs and films of strange flying objects. During test flights with the Messerschmitt 163, also called "Komet" or "Kraftei", it is said that in two cases it was even possible to film very large "flying cigars" (Durrant 1970, p. 86).
It is difficult to judge whether these statements are true; Professor Kamper and other direct witnesses are no longer alive today.
[R f. tpc1:] THIERRY PINVIDIC:
Certain fantastic stories circulate about German secret weapons, and “UFOs” allegedly observed by certain authorities of the 3rd Reich. Studies have been undertaken on this subject by experts from the Peenemünde base, it is said. The opinion of the experts involved is edifying. Let us first recall “the facts” as they are generally presented.
[...]
We must also talk about the famous “Foo-Fighters”, these “ghost hunters” also called “Kraut-Fireballs” by the Americans. In September 1944, for example, during tests of the ME 262 fighter at the Rechlin-Roggenthin [sic] base, some of the best German pilots observed luminous globes but were unable to reach them during chase.
The author then reports that ufological sources - which ones he does not specify - speak of a study commission (“Sonder Büro”) of UFOs by the Nazis in a project named “Uranus”, then curiously approaches the idea that one claims it was the Nazis themselves who would have built a “V-7” flying saucer, an idea that he refutes with the good arguments that we know elsewhere.
Decided to get information directly from the sources, I wrote in 1977 to Professor Hermann Oberth, expert in astronautics and responsible for the German program during the Second World War, master of Werner Von Braun, with whom he worked at the Redstone arsenal for the account of the CAA in 1952. Hermann Oberth is generally considered the father of modern astronautics.
I asked Professor Oberth for any details and references relating to possible work carried out on the subject of UFOs by the Peenemünde experts. [...] I asked Hermann Oberth the destination of the Sonder Büro documents after the Second World War. [...] I received the following response dated October 18, 1976:
Dear Sir,
Unfortunately I cannot answer your questions. During the years 1941-43 while I worked at the Peenemüde base, there was never any question of UFO in the services with which I was in contact. The code name “Uranus” is also unknown to me.
I first heard about UFOs in 1953. Mr. Heinz Gr sser, president of the Peenemünde alumni association, may possibly help you with this.
With my best regards Hermann Oberth
Followed was the address of Heinz Grosser whom I obviously contacted as soon as possible [...]
The following answers only showed that the people contacted had no knowledge of flying saucers made by the Nazis or of UFO sightings by German pilots during the Second World War, nor of a “Sonderbüro” or “Uranus” project.
[Réf. tpc2:] THIERRY PINVIDIC:
Cheating:
Cheating is, for example [...] it is again Durrant inventing the story of Sonderburo No. 13 of the Luftwaffe and who only admitted it after my investigation in Germany. He narrowly escaped by claiming that he had set up this hoax to trap ufologists who, as usual, repeat information without verifying it. One gets by as best one can, and I even have serious doubts on this subject which I will come back to one day. In any case, everyone who has read “Les dossiers des S.V.” but have not read “Le nœud gordien” will continue to take the thing at face value, as several authors happily did who happily repeated Durrant.
[R f. hdt2:] "HENRI DURRANT":
Mr. the Editor-in-Chief, No. 27 of September 1983, of “OVNI-Presence” reached me this morning, and I thank you very much for it. I note, in the article “amateurism...” signed by Mr. Pinvidic Thierry, the following passage (pp. 7 and 8):
“Cheating is ... again Durrant inventing the story of Sonderburo No. 13 of the Luftwaffe and only admitting it after my investigation in Germany. He got away with it correctly by claiming that he had set up this hoax to trap ufologists who, as usual, repeat information without verifying it. One gets away with it as best one can, and I even have serious doubts on this subject to which I will come back one day. In any case, all those who have read “Les dossiers des S.V.” but did not read “Le nœud gordien” will continue to take the thing at face value, as several authors happily did who happily copied Durrant.”
Without claiming the right of reply (our relations are excellent), although having been cited by name, I ask you to kindly publish this corrective text, in extenso, in your very next issue no. 28. Mr. Pinvidic Thierry actually asked me for information on the Sonderburo Nr. 13 of the Oberkommando der Luftwaffe, by telephone and AFTER the release of his very interesting book “Le nœud gordien” (For confirmation, see GEPO-Information, no 29, January-March 1983); So I did not have to admit that it was a hoax, Mr. Pinvidic Thierry not having played the investigating judge that day; I simply explained to him that it was a trap for copiers or looters, and I explained to him the origins: my past difficulties, with less than honest colleagues (I'm summarizing!), regarding translations of articles, when I was a professional journalist, years ago.
Mr. Pinvidic Thierry acted “as several authors happily did who happily copied Durrant”, although he too published the same story in conditional mode (I reread his text) (!). If Mr. Pinvidic Thierry had telephoned me BEFORE the publication of his book, he would have been aware of the trap, would not have fallen into it, and would have spared himself the trouble of practicing conditional cheating himself, which would is more serious; because it was by ignoring the details that I provided him that he was able to allow himself to accuse me of cheating and claim that “I narrowly escaped by pretexting that...”
Mr. Pinvidic Thierry says he carried out an investigation in Germany. Very good. The result of this having been negative, a double question arises: did he investigate, to verify information, BEFORE writing his book, and, in this case, why does he use the conditional instead of frankly denouncing “cheating”?
Did he investigate AFTER the release of “The Gordian Knot”? As he does not specify this, I would like to point out to him that: 1) Investigating BEFORE without taking into account the result is aberrant, and that 2) investigating AFTER is investigating too late. (2) Mr. Pinvidic Thierry is not very sure of his references: it is not the “Dossiers des S.V.” (3) (title he writes falsely), but from the “Livre Noir des Soucoupes Volantes” where Sonderburo Nr. 13 is mentioned on p. 81.
The trap had therefore been set since 1970, and it took thirteen long years for Mr. Pinvidic Thierry to decide to write about it... perhaps also because the first list of looters began to spread and that this tickle him? I can't believe it.
To this first argument confirming my good faith, I will add another proof: the list, as up to date as possible, of “those who happily copied”. Am I going to make so many enemies? What does it matter! as the other said: “Molto nemici? Molto onore!”. Your readers will then be able to verify two elements passed over in silence by Mr. Pinvidic Thierry: 1) the dates of publication of the books cited prove that I did not wait for the release of “le nœud gordien” to “barely escape in claiming that...”; 2) readers who have the works cited will only have to refer to the pages indicated to ensure that I am telling the truth. Mr. Editor-in-Chief, you absolutely must forgive me for the sweet habit I have, that of always providing others with the possibility of controlling me. Not everyone can do it!
To the brief mention of Sonderbüro Nr. 13 that I made in 1970, one author adds Admiral Canaris (in 1977), another adds 300 confirmed pilots (in 1979) (5), and we arrived at the Führer himself (conversation of 09.10.1982): in psychoanalysis, this progressively additive phenomenon is called “Ulysses' lie”. So, if I had a slightly devious mind, I could deny the entire and exclusive authorship of my copycat trap. Because I could consider that my looter trap has been so perfected and embellished by the copiers themselves, that I now have complete freedom to throw this screaming baby away with the dirty water of his bath. But why should I avoid this responsibility, since it has the advantage of revealing so much joy to us?
In UFOLOGIE-CONTACT n 8, from the ex-SPEPSE, Mr. Pinvidic Thierry expressed a completely different opinion, with regard to Durrant, than that of today; it is true that the first partial list of copiers was not in circulation. In psychoanalysis, how could we define such a reversal?
Conflating a “copycat trap” with dishonesty has never been a serious procedure; it's at most an old trick of a crooked politician. On the other hand, ah! how I would have liked to see at least as much “vigor” shown towards copiers; My disappointment is great, because I haven't read anything about it yet. In morality, what is it called?
Apart from its immediate usefulness, what can the introduction of copier traps in books mean? We can respond: to sanitation (6), to the moralization of UFO “literature”; that is to say to a very specific field arising from ufology. Now, Mr. Editor-in-Chief, your readers no doubt remember, in the first part of his article “On amateurism...”, Mr. Pinvidic Thierry pulls no punches (and I 'approve!) to castigate the vices of ufologists, and to try to clean up, to moralize what is not yet (fortunately!) a profession. It would therefore seem that our approaches are the same, if not similar. So why conflate a looter trap with “cheating”? In psychoanalysis, what is such a contradiction called?
Could it be because Durrant “acted” while Pinvidic only “wrote”? I can't believe it. Could it be because we cannot claim to “moralize”, when we ourselves...? I can't believe it. As for deceiving the reader (The Sonderbüro Nr. 13 is neither a case nor a ufological incident), if Mr. Pinvidic Thierry knows a recipe for making an omelette without breaking eggs, it is with pleasure and profit that I will assimilate his lesson. Has life not yet taught him that, too often, between two evils he must choose the lesser?
Mr. Editor-in-Chief, let's get serious again: “Le Livre Noir des Soucoupes Volantes” contains two traps, one of which is now known; two traps also exist in “Les Dossiers des OVNI”; two traps also exist in “Premières enquêtes sur les humanoïdes extraterrestres.” To the wise, hello!
There are many of us, extremely many of us, who deplore the fact that, in all UFO publications, vain controversy too often replaces fresh news, interesting information, solid documentation. Believe me, I was truly saddened to have been obliged to take up so much editorial space from you in order to re-establish the strict truth, and thus avoid the misinformation (or intoxication, as you choose) of your readers. (7)
I think I didn't abuse it, unlike some who didn't deprive themselves of it. It is in this hope that I remain, Mr. Editor-in-Chief, very cordially yours:
Henry DURRANT
We then get the notes by the editor of OVNI-Présence:
Editorial notes:
(1) In fact, investigative elements are gathered in “Le nœud gordien” but are however insufficient to demonstrate the non-existence of Sonderbüro Nr 13.
(2) The investigative elements found in “Le nœud gordien” were obviously collected BEFORE publication!
(3) The exact title is “Les dossiers des O.V.N.I.”.
(4) We must at least add to this list SCORNAUX Jacques and PIENS Christiane, “A la recherche des OVNI”, Marabout 1976, p. 159.
(5) It is in fact Henry Durrant himself who quotes Admiral Canaris in “Le livre noir des soucoupes volantes” on page 85!!! Maybe if he reread himself, he would also discover the origin of the 300 confirmed pilots?!
(6) For sanitation, it's a failure!
(7) We learn with astonishment that Henry Durrant, as a defender of freedoms, morality, and detoxification, published two copycat traps in each of his books. Given the already long list of copiers, one might wonder how one could qualify the publication of such misleading pseudo-information. Henry Durrant proposes the term sanitation. Perhaps... If then all the authors of ufological books sanitized in the same manner, then ufology must indeed be transparent in its clarity!
[Ref. ses1:] "SPI ENIGMA" MAGAZINE
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(Editor's note. My thanks to Editor Duncan Roads of Australia's NEXUS magazine for permission to reprint the following artcile).
During World War II, the accumulation of sightings of mysterious celestial objects finally started to worry the military authorities. In both camps high ranking officials of the intelligence services started to study these strange objects and investigation committees composed of military and scientific personnel were set up in various countries. They had a double purpose, first of all to determine the nature of these flying objects, and then to see if they constituted a threat to the security of the nation.
During World War II the allies, just like the Germans, noticed the presence of these enigmatic flying objects above their secret bases. The first reaction of each side was obviously to suspect espionage on the part of their enemy. In 1943, the English were the first to set up a special group to enquire into the question of these objects. They set up a small organisation to collect evidence. This was headed by Lieutenant General Massey and was inspired by reports from a spy who in fact, was a double agent operating under the orders of the mayor of Cologne. He had confirmed that the "Foo Fighters" were not German devices, but that the Germans thought that they were Allied weapons which of course, the British knew was not so. Later in 1966, it was learned from the British Aviation Minister that project Massey had been officially classified in 1944. Perhaps it was pure coincidence, but the double agent was denounced and executed at the begining of that year.
For their part, the Germans did not remain inactive. In 1944 the Wehrmacht asked Oberkommando of the "Luftwaffe Aviation" to set up a centre to collect information on all the various sightings of these mysterious celestial objects. This was known as the Sonderburo No 13, which until the time of the German defeat, scrupulously applied itself to its job. The short time that this commission was in existence, prevented it from coming to any definite conclusions, but it collected an impressive amount of information. The first sighting studied by the Sonderburo, went back two years and came from a Hauptmann Fischer, an engineer in civil life, on March 14th, 1942, at 5.35pm, Fischer landed at the secret air base at Banak Norway.
At that instant the radar picked up a luminous object and Fischer was asked to go up and identify it. At about 10,000 feet, the pilot caught sight of the object and gave a description by radio to the base: an enormous streamlined craft about 300 feet long, and about 50 feet in diameter. The aerial whale, which was Fischer's title for it, stayed horizontal for a long moment before rising vertically and disappearing at great speed. It was not a machine constructed by the hand of man, Fischer stated in his report. On reading the report, Air Marshall Hermann Goering concluded that the solitude of the north does not seem to have done much for this pilot.
The report of another interesting incident was carefully preserved in the archives of the German Investigation Committee; that of the launching of an experimental rocket on February 12th 1944, at the Kummersdorf test centre. On that day, the Minister of propaganda Joseph Goebbels, S.S. Reichsfuher Himmler and S. Gruppenfuhrer Heinz Kammler, were present at the launching which was being filmed.
Some days later, the authorities at the base organised a showing of the film. The astonished spectators could see very clearly, a spherical body which followed the rocket and circled around it.
The authorities immediately suspected Allied espionage. However, an agent informed Himmler that the English were themselves, victims of the same sort of phenomenon, and thought that it was a new type of German prototype craft. However, the most convincing evidence filed away by the Sonderburo came from a military flying ace.
On September 29th, 1944 at 10.45 am, a test pilot was trying out a new Messerschmitt jet ME 262 Schwalbe, when his attention was suddenly caught by two luminous points situated on his right. He shot at full speed in that direction, and found himself face to face with a cylindrical object more than 300 feet long, with some openings along it's side, and fitted with long antennae placed in front up to about halfway along it's length. Having approached within about 1,500 feet of the craft, the pilot was amazed to see that it was moving at a speed of more than 1,200 m.p.h.
Note: all that is told here is lifted from Henry Durrant's 1970 book [hdt1], and invented by the latter.
[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:
GERMANY, Rechlin-Roggenthin
At 10:45 a.m., at the Rechlin-Roggenthin Test Center, at 12,000 m, a pilot (identity not provided in the report) was testing a new Messerschmitt ME 262 Schwalbe jet. His attention was drawn to two luminescent spots to his right. Going full throttle, he found himself in the presence of a cylindrical body more than 100 m long; on the side some round openings in the form of portholes; from the front to half the length, vertical (metal?) rods in the form of antennae; no wings; speed exceeding 2,000 km/h. The pilot approached it to within 500 m for a few seconds and was able to observe it. He was interrogated by Special Bureau 13 and had to draw a sketch of what he had seen. (Henry DURRANT: “Le livre noir des S.V.”, Laffont 1970, p.85-86)
[Ref. pre1:] PHILIP R. RIFE:
Later that same year [1944], the test pilot of a new German jet-powered fighter encountered a UFO that left his own cutting-edge aircraft in the dust. He got a quick look at the strange craft before it sped away at a speed he estimated was in excess of 1,200 miles per hour (more than twice the top speed of his jet). He said it was cylinder-shaped and about 300 feet in length, with some sort of openings along its side and what appeared to be an antennae in the front. (265)
The source was described as: "265. Weltraumbote, 7/1958"
Note: Weltraumbote was a Swiss ufology magazine. No. 32-33 of July 1958 contains nothing about said sighting.
[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:
514: 1944/09/29 10:50 1 7:54:00 E 52:22:00 N 3333 WEU GER LSX 6:6
ACHMER AFB?,GER:ME252 PILOT:100M CGR:OPENINGS/SIDE:LONG ANTENNAS:>>1900kph
Ref# 40 CUFON / NAT'l UFO REPORTING CENTER Page No. 0: IN-FLIGHT
[Ref. kml1:] KEVIN MCCLURE:
In another careful analysis of a dubious element of UFO history, Andy Roberts says:
We have at least one outright hoax in foo-fighter lore. For years rumours had been flying round that the Germans had been fully aware of the foo-fighter phenomenon and that they had a special study group formed to look into the problem under the name of “Project Uranus”, backed by a shadowy group by the name of Sonderburo 13. This was first detailed in La Livres Noir De Soucoupes Volantes (The Black Book of Flying Saucers – 1970) by French ufologist Henry Durrant. The rumour spread in Europe and eventually took physical form in the English language in Tim Good's acclaimed book Above Top Secret where it is used to help substantiate further vague rumours of an Anglo/American foo-fighter study. Good had not checked his facts and had in fact just copied the information direct from Durrant's book.
When I checked this out with Durrant he informed me that the whole “Project Uranus” affair was a hoax which he had inserted in his book precisely to see who would copy it without checking. The hoax apparently had been revealed in France some years before but hadn't percolated its way through to English speaking ufologists. Perhaps other foo hoaxes await discovery. (37)
The source (37) is detailed as: “Roberts, Andy. Foo Fighters - the Story So Far, Project 1947 website”.
[Ref. mmy1:] MACK MALONEY:
This author indicates that French UFO writer Henry Durrant was the first to report a story about the Germans becoming enormously puzzled by the Foo-Fighters after their own pilots started seeing weird things in the sky, and they set up a shadowy unit called “Sonderburo 13.” to investigate them.
On of the cases Sonderburo 13 was said to have investigated happened in September 1944. A German test pilot, aloft in a Me-262 jet fighter, suddenly became aware of a pair of bright lights off his starboard wing. He hit the throttles and turned toward the lights only to find a huge cylindrical object, more than 300 feet long with an antenna on top, flying away from him.
The German jet pilot tried to draw closer, but the object was moving at the then-unheard-of speed of 1,200 miles per hour and quickly left him behind.
But, says Maloney, there is “a chance that the whole story of Sonderburo 13 is a fake”, as some years later, “Henry Durrant, the man who first reported this in his 1970 work, The Black Book of Flying Saucers, claimed he'd invented it all just to catch UFO researchers who weren't checking their facts adequately. To this day, though, the story of Sonderburo 13 still perpetuates in UFO books and online sites.”
[Ref. sst1:] S. N. STRUTT:
This author says that a typical sightings of Foo Fighters took place on September 29, 1944, at 10:45 a.m., when a test pilot was trying out a new Messerschmitt jet, ME 262 Schwalbe, when two luminous points situated on his right suddenly caught his attention. He shot at full speed in that direction and found himself face to face with a cylindrical object, more than three hundred feet long with some openings along its side and fitted with long antennae placed in front up to about halfway along its length. Having approached within about 1,500 feet of the craft, the pilot saw in amazement that it was moving at a speed of more than 1,200 m.p.h.
This author then states that the foo fighter was a German flying weapon called “tortoise” built to disrupt the Allied planes navigation and communications systems.
[Ref. twf1:] WEBSITE "THE WHY FILES":
The Allied Military Chiefs suspected that Foo Fighters were, in fact, enemy secret weapons but the Germans were also mystified by the strange objects. In 1944 the German Wehrmacht requested that the Luftwaffe set up a section which would collect information on what the allies called Foo Fighters.
This section was known as Sonderburo 13 (Special Office 13) and was meticulous in its allotted task until the invasion of Germany in April 1945. An impressive amount of data was collected, including the sightings of some rather strange aerial objects:
[... other case... ].
29th September, 1944, A test pilot was flying a new Messerschmitt ME-262 Schwalbe jet when he suddenly sighted two luminous points of light to his right. When he turned the jet and approached the objects at full speed he was staggered to observe a cylindrical craft more than 90 metres long with openings along its side and a long antenna at the front. The test pilot estimated its speed at 2,000 kmph.
[Ref. jsn1:] JEAN-CLAUDE SIDOUN:
This author indicates that by looking at “the notes and observations of the Uranus project, American specialists provided after the war additional details to the observation made in September 1944 on the Rechlin-Roggentin base”, one “learned that a special group of aviators were testing a Messerschmitt M 262 Schwabbe [sic] jet and that one of the pilots noticed two luminous objects in the sky. He was commanded to chase them, he took off, rushed towards them at full throttle, and when he reached one of the luminous objects, he found himself facing a cylinder more than 100 meters long, on which round openings opened, like portholes.
The author says that the machine “did not have wings, but some sort of metal antennas. The speed was estimated above 2000 km/hour. One of the pilots was however able to approach it for a few seconds only, because the cylinder quickly disappeared into the depths of the sky.”
The author explains that no aerial device was of this size at that time, and asks:
“So what was it? No one can tell today!”
The author indicates that the source is “Le nœud gordien ou la fantastique histoire des OVNI”, by Thierry Pinvidic, pages 226 to 229.
Further in his book, the author indicates that on September 29, 1944, the tests of the ME 262 fighter carried out at the Rechlin-Roggentin base, some of the best German pilots observed luminous globes in the sky, but were unable to reach them during the chase.
He indicates that the course of these events was recorded in additional detail by Henry Durrant:
At 10:45 a.m., at the Rechlin Roggentin Test Center, a pilot - identity not provided in the report - tested the new Messerschmitt ME 262 Schwalbe jet at 12,000 meters. His attention was attracted by 2 luminescent dots to his right. Going full throttle, he found himself in the presence of a cylindrical body more than 100 meters long, having round porthole-shaped openings on the side; from the front to half the length, it had vertical metal rods shaped like antennas, no wings, and displayed a speed exceeding 2000 kilometers per hour. The pilot approached it to within 500 meters for a few seconds and observed it.
The author indicates that the pilot returning to his base, the Volksjager-Erprobungskommando, was interrogated by Special Bureau 13 and had to draw a sketch of what he had seen.
Professor George Kamper, director of the URANUS project, then brought together the documentation of Special Office 13, consisting of observation reports, photographs and films. He had carefully studied the problem and even thought about publishing his conclusions, but “Unfortunately, for a long time, one no longer talked about him. He disappeared and fell definitively into oblivion!”
The sources are given as “Le nœud gordien ou la fantastique histoire des OVNI, Thierry Pinvidic, France Empire publishers, 1979, page 222”, and “Le livre noir des soucoupes volantes”, Henry Durrant, Robert Laffont publisher, 1974, pages 85-86.
The Messerschmitt Me-262 “Schwalbe” was the first truly operational jet aircraft in history. It was supposed to serve as a fighter plane but was instead used as a fighter-bomber, and later a night fighter. Its maximum speed was 878 km/h.
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The “Erprobungsstelle Rechlin” (“Rechlin Test Department”) was located on the southeastern shore of Lake Müritz in Rechlin, near Roggentin (not “Roggenthin”). It was, before the construction of the facilities of Peenemunde, the main German installation for aeronautical experimentation between 1926 and 1945. In the summer of 1944, the new Messerschmitt Me-262, Arado Ar-234 and Heinkel He-162 jets were actually tested there.
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Above: in the center a Me-262 on the Rechlin strip in1944.
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I am not publishing here the entire “saga” of the inventions of “Henry Durrant”, which saga continues in various ufological journals; but there is still one more element to mention.
We see in [hdt2] that “Durrant” tried to clear himself by asserting that the invention of the “Sonderbüro 13” is not the invention of a ufological “case”. Now, my current file does indeed concern a “case”, and it is indeed part of several ufological “cases” put forward by Durrant.
In the “saga”, the French ufologist Jean Giraud had noticed this, and called on “Durrant” to give the references for one of the cases. In vain.
Invention by author Henry Durrant.
* = 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 | October 29, 2023 | Creation, [hdt1], [tpc1], [tpc2], [hdt2]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | October 29, 2023 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | November 6, 2023 | Additions [ynd1], [fgs1], [gvo1], [lhh1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | December 25, 2023 | Addition [twf1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | May 4, 2024 | Additions [pvy1], [tfo1], [sst1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | May 30, 2024 | Addition [jsn1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | July 24, 2024 | Additions [ibl1], [rfe1]. In the Summary, addition of the information from [ibl1]. |
| 1.6 | Patrick Gross | July 31, 2024 | Additions [ses1], [mmy1]. |
