ACUFO:

MISSION REPORT

UNIT REPORTING: 415th Night Fighter Squadron

MISSIONS: 2 Intruder - 6 Patrols - 8 Sorties

DATE: 22/23 Dec.

REPORT:

1. l705-l850 hours. Fired at 2 vehicles at Q-7987 - no results observed. Put on bogie by Blunder at l750 hours, had A.I. [aircraft radar] contact 4 miles range. At Q-7372, Overshot and could not pick up contact again. A.I. went out and weather started closing in so returned to base. Observed 2 lights, one of which seemed to be going off and on at Q-241l.

2. l845-2015 hours. Got as far as Landau. Rear hatch blew open, could not get it closed so had to return. Observed 2 searchlights at Landau.

3. 2000-2045 hours. Started on GCI [ground radar] patrol but cockeral and canary US, so returned to base.

4. 2340-0150 hours. Scrambled for patrol base to front line, Had several fleeting contacts - probably ice clouds. Right engine would not feed on outer gas tank so returned to base.

5. 2340-0305 hours. Scramble. Had 3 A.I contacts but lost them. Bogies later identified as friendly by controller. Observed large convoy east this side of line.

6. 0230-0345 hours. Patrol in area 30 miles east of base. Pilot became ill and returned to base.

7. 0350-0730 hours. Patrolled 10,000 ft. Strasbourg – Sarrebourg. At 0600 saw 2 lights coming toward a/c [aircraft] from south. Turned away after about 2 minutes when near Haguenau. Saw orange glow and thought it might possibly be jet a/c.

8. 0535-0750 hours. Patrol Sarrebourg - R-4559. Saw lights from plane and orange glow. Thought it possible jet a/c.

CLAIMS: None

LOSSES: None

[...]

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.

December 22/23, 1944 - Mission 8 - 0535-0750 - Patrol Sarrebourg - R-4559. Saw lights from plane and orange glow. Thought it possible jet a/c.

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.