ACUFO-1944-12-24-RHINEVALLEY-1
In the fall and winter 1945, Intelligence Officer Fred B. Ringwald was attached to the 415th Night Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Army Air Forces, stationed in the Dijon region in France; which carried out night intrusion missions into enemy territory on the Rhine valley. Having himself seen with others unexplained luminous phenomena during a mission, he had collected a series of other testimonies to send a summary about it for the Tactical Air Command of the U.S. Army on January 23, 1945.
In this Intelligence report, he had noted that in the night from December 23 to 24, 1944, from a night fighter plane of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, “reddish colored flames” were observed at considerable distance and at approximately 10,000 feet.
This may or may not be the sighting reported by Jo Chamberlin in his famous article “The Foo Fighter Mystery”, published in The American Legion Magazine in December 1945.
Jo Chamberlin was then a Lieutenant-Colonel and war correspondent. He had visited the airmen of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron and, like Ringwald, collected their reports of the mystery lights they encountered over the Rhine valley in then end of 1944 and beginning of 1945.
Chamberlin told that in the night of December 23-24, 1944, the two airmen who had reported a sighting over Haguenau on the night of December 22-23, 1944, Lieutenant David L. McFalls, of Cliffside, North Carolina, pilot, and Lieutenant Ned Baker of Hemat, California, radar-observer, when flying at 10,000 feet, when they observed a “glowing red object shooting straight up, which suddenly changed to a view of an aircraft doing a wing-over, going into a dive and disappearing.”
| Date: | December 24, 1944 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Night. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | January 23, 1945 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, 4 weeks. |
| Country: | France or Germany. |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | |
| City or place: | The Rhine valley |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 2 |
| Reporting channel: | Military Intelligence report. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | Yes. |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Shot up, wing-over, dive. |
| Witnesses action: | |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | Foo-Fighter. |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1 or 2
[ ] Airborne radar: Not reported. [ ] Directional ground radar: Not reported. [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | NL |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, 4 20 mm cannons, 6 7.62 mm machine guns. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 3 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 2 |
| ACUFO: | Probable German V-2 rocket. |
[Ref. rwd1:] FRED B. RINGWALD, INTELLIGENCE, U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES:
Note: the document that follows was retrieved by Jan Aldrich's historical ufology effort Project 1947, at www.project1947.com/fig/1945a.htm
Only the header, the footer and the part related to the case documented in this file are shown.
Only other cases are removed, as they are shown in their own case file in this catalog.
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S E C R E T
1st W/Ind
D-W-2
HEADQUARTERS XII TACTICAL AIR COMMAND, APO #374, U.S. Army, 23 January 1945.
TO: S-2, 415 Night Fighter Squadron.
Forwarded for compliance with paragraph 2 of 1st Ind.
[Signature]
LEAVITT CORNING, JR,.
Lt. Colonel, G.S.C,.
A/C of S, A-2.
2nd W/Ind
415th. NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON, APO #374, U. S. Army, 30 January 1945.
TO: AC of S A-2. XII Tactical Air Command, APO 374, U. S. Army.
1. In compliance with paragraph 2 of Ist. Ind., the following extracts from the Sortie reports of various pilots who have encountered the Night Phenomenon are submitted for your information.
[... other cases...]
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[... other cases...]
Night of 23-24 December 1944 - “Observed reddish colored flames at considerable distance and at approximately 10,000 ft.”
[... other cases...]
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2. In every case where pilot called GCI Control and asked if there was a Bogey A/C in the area he received a negative answer.
[Signature.]
F. B. Ringwald
Captain, A.C.
Intelligence Officer
* Foofighters is the name given these phenomenon by combat crews of this Squadron.
S E C R E T
[Ref. wdy1:] WAR DIARY, 415TH NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON:
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24. The officer's bar had its usual gala opening. The Foo-Fighters were active again according to the pilots report: “Observed a glowing, red object shooting straight up. It changed suddenly to a plan view of an A/C [aircraft] doing a wing-over and going into a dive and disappearing.”
[Ref. jcn1:] JO CHAMBERLIN:
The next night [= December 23-24, 1944] the same two men, flying at 10,000 feet, observed a single red flame. Lt. David L. McFalls, of Cliffside, N. C., pilot, and Lt. Ned Baker of Hemat, California, radar-observer, also saw: “A glowing red object shooting straight up, which suddenly changed to a view of an aircraft doing a wing-over, going into a dive and disappearing.” This was the first and only suggestion of a controlled flying device.
[Ref. hws1:] HAROLD T. WILKINS:
During the closing months of the war our fighters chased weird colored balls of fire that suddenly disappeared.
By Harold T. Wilkins
[...]
On the night of December 24, 1944, McFalls and Baker had another amazing experience. Here is their report:
“A glowing red ball shot straight up to us. It suddenly changed into an airplane which did a wing over! Then it dived and disappeared.”
The reader should note the sudden disappearance of this weird thing in the sky. “They,” if the reports are to be believed, would appear to hail from some phenomenal world of a different wavelength of visibility from our own. “They” - whoever these etherian beings are - can operate controlled machines which suddenly appear from nowhere, fly at vertiginous speeds, and as suddenly vanish into thin air. Yet, in our world of radiological science, in which we have but touched the threshold of the unseen rays in the invisible octaves of the solar spectrum, let the physicist pause before he dismisses these stories of picked men as hallucinations.
[Ref. kap1:] KENNETH ARNOLD AND RAY PALMER:
On the night of December 24, 1944, McFalls and Baker had another amazing experience. Here is their report:
A glowing red ball shot straight up at us. It suddenly changed into an airplane which did a wing over! Then it dived and disappeared.
[Ref. vgs1:] VINCENT GADDIS:
The following night [ie December 23, 1944] Lieutenant David L. McFalls, pilot, and Lieutenant Ned Baker, observer, flying at 10,000 feet, saw "a glowing red object shooting straight up, which suddenly changed to a view of an aircraft doing a wing-over, going into a dive and disappearing." We may suspect that imagination played a part in this observation, for the foo fighters certainly were not "ghost planes." This was the first and only report that indicated the appearances were devices.
[Ref. gld1:] GORDON LORE AND HAROLD DENEAULT:
The following evening [thus December 23, 1945], again at 10,000 feet, the same two men observed a single, mysterious “red flame” on another mission.
[Ref. rvo1:] "ARGOSY" MAGAZINE - RENATO VESCO:
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Flying Saucers continued
RENATO VESCO is a fully licensed aircraft engineer and a specialist in aerospace and ramjet developments. He attended the University of Rome and, before World War II, studied at the German Institute for Aerial Development. During the war, Vesco worked with the Germans at the Fiat Lake Garda secret installations in Italy, and he is currently attached to the Italian Air Ministry. He has also been working for the Italian Ministry of Defense as an undercover technical agent. investigating the flying-saucer mystery for the past eighteen years.
On November 27, 1944, a B-27 of the United State's Air Force, returning from a raid on Speyer, in West Germany, encountered a huge, orange-colored light moving upward at an estimated speed of 500 mph, When the pilots reported the object. sector radar replied negatively, because nothing had registered on the screen.
But the object seen by the returning bomber was only the first of numerous others spotted by American pilots over wartime Germany and promptly baptized "Foofighters." Fighter pilots Falls and Baker, of the 415th Squadron. reported such an encounter a month later, forcing the Air Force to admit that such objects might exist. Later encounters with foo-fighters led experts to assume they were German inventions of a new order, employed to baffle radar.
Notes: Renato Vesco, cited here, was a promoter of fantasy “nazi saucers” who claimed the “Foo-Fighters” in WWII were a secret nazi weapon called “Kugelblitz” - all interviewed German officers and technicians who were involved in advanced aerial programs denied any involvement or knowledge that the “Foo Fighters” may have been anything German.
Vesco made many claims, which started here, in 1969 only, that were proven fraudulent, mainly by ufologists Kevin McClure and Maurizio Verga.
For example, he claimed that he had “commanded the technical section of the Italian Air Force” in 1944. But he was born in 1924, so that it is impossible that he received such a prestigious position at age 20. He claimed to have studied at the “German Institute for Aerial Development”, but he would have been 15 then.
Vesco claimed in his second book that the British landed on the moon in 1951 and on Mars in 1954 using secret Nazi technology! (The “nazi saucer” buffs keep this under wraps because they do not want you to find out that the person they are claiming to be an “aviation expert” was just one of many scammers.)
(Refer to my 2006 article about the nazi saucers fraud).
Argosy was a U.S pulp magazine published by Franck Munsey, the first of this genre. I mainly published science-fiction and Western stories.
[Ref. lgs1:] LOREN GROSS:
The following evening [December 22, 1944] the same airmen in the forementioned account, a Lt. D. McFalls and a Lt. N. Baker, claimed something glowing red shot up at their fighter and flipped over before plunging downward. One of men said the light “changed into an airplane” at the top of its climb. This was the only time anyone claimed the lights resembled something conventional. It might have been one of the small experimental rocket propelled interceptors the Germans were working on, and then again, it has been proposed years later, that perhaps the airman might have seen just an edge of something flat since he used the words “wing-over”. Anyway, it's unlikely the details of that one particular sighting will ever be cleared up.
[Ref. ibl1:] ILLOBRAND VON LUDWIGER:
Just a month later [on November 27, 1944], three days before Christmas, Foo Fighters were sighted again. Lt. David McFalls of Cliffside, North Carolina, and radar observer Lt. Edward Baker of Hemat, California, flew south of Hagenau on December 22, 1944. The town is 20 miles north of Strasbourg and 16 miles west of the Rhine. Pilot McFall reported: "At about 10,000 feet near Hagenau, we saw two bright lights flying toward us, which had risen from the ground. They appeared very large and were bright orange. They remained on my wing for about two minutes and were apparently perfectly controlled. Finally they flew away and the fireballs seemed to die out."
Two days later, the same two men had another disturbing experience. They say: "A glowing red balloon suddenly shot up from below. A moment later the thing looked like an airplane turning on its side. Shortly afterwards it dived downwards and disappeared (Wilkins 1967, pp. 22-23).
[Ref. bgd1:] BARRY GREENWOOD:
Barry Greenwood, in an article about the “Foo-Fighters” documents in the U.S. military archive, said:
A summary of incidents [reported by airmen of the U.S. Army Air Forces 415th Night Fighter Squadron] was prepared by Captain F. B. Ringwald, Intelligence Officer with Headquarters 12 of the Tactical Air Command to advise S-2 of the “Night Phenomenon” encountered by the pilots and dated January 30, 1945.
Barry Greenwood then cited 13 cases from Ringwald's report, including this one:
“Night of 23-24 December 1944 - Observed reddish colored flame at considerable distance and at approximately 10,000 ft.
Barry Greenwood commented about these reports:
It is noteworthy to point out that these pilots made a distinction between the usual flak bursts sent up by anti-aircraft fire and what they were seeing in these incidents. One might expect that due to technical advances during the war, eventually one side may develop a new sort of anti-aircraft weapon that could behave in an intelligent manner in pursuit of enemy planes. The problem with this here is that there are no known reports of “Foo Fighters” bringing down aircraft of either side. The objects that seemed to be “under perfect control at all times” didn't seem to do damage but merely accompany planes on their respective missions without interference.
To end the summary, Ringwald said that in each case where the pilot called GCI control to ask if “Bogey A/C” were in the area, he received a negative answer. It was also noted, perhaps more of interest to modern audiences, that these objects were called “Foofighters.” One word only, which should we call it? Chamberlin added his own written footnote for another sighting on February 28: "Returning, 45 miles East of Base (Loral Ochey) sighted foo fighters to rear starboard. Orange red in color. Turned to have a look and it disappeared. Near Luneville, SECRET north of Strasbourg. Lt. Buscio & Krasner RO.”
[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.
He indicated that these mysterious “balls of fire” had a diameter which generally did not exceed 50 centimeters, they appeared immaterial, but they executed movements which, “to a certain extent, were directed intelligently since they followed the planes exactly, avoiding them when a risk of collision came up, accompanied the fighters in the dizzying dives that they executed during aerial combats and, generally, behaved as if all their movements were controlled by an intelligent will.”
He reported that among the sightings of “foo-fighters” by the pilots of the 415th American fighter squadron based in Dijon, there was that of the night of December 22, 1944:
Lieutenant David McFalls, originally from North Carolina, and Lieutenant Edward Baker, a Californian radar operator, were on board their plane flying at an altitude of 3,000 meters south of Haguenau, in an area located 32 kilometers north of Strasbourg and 25 kilometers west of the Rhine. Determined to defy ridicule, McFalls wrote this report which he gave to his superiors:
“At 6 p.m., while we were flying at an altitude of 3,000 meters in the Haguenau region, two very bright points of light rose from the ground to our aircraft. Arriving at our altitude, these two large luminous balls were placed very close to the tail of our plane. They remained there for around ten minutes; the fact that they maintained this position with extreme precision reveals that they were masterfully piloted. They moved away and their brightness seemed to go out.”
[Ref. sdm1:] SABINE DELMARTI:
THE FOO FIGTHERS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
The Second World War saw a famous UFO episode, that of the foo fighters. It began in 1943, when luminous balls regularly appeared to Allied planes in flight. Moving around the aircraft, sometimes in formation, undetectable on the on-board radar, they will be so familiar to the military that they nickname them foo fighters 15
On December 22, 1944, David McFalls, on a mission above Haguenau, noted: "It is 6 p.m. The bright stars left the ground and headed towards us. They are following us for now. 16 They hover very close to the plane, which they follow for around ten minutes. Two days later, McFalls witnesses another miracle. This time, it's a red ball of light that rushes towards the plane. "Suddenly," the pilot says, "it took the form of an airplane, which, after making a very sharp turn, swooped down, then disappeared." 17 The army thinks of a German secret weapon. However, after the end of the war, German pilots claimed to have encountered similar phenomena.
15. Opinions are divided on the meaning of this American slang term. Most authors suggest translating it as “ghost plane”. A. Ribera maintains that this term means "fire hunters", the word foo being according to him a slang translation of the French "fire".
16. La Chronique des OVNI, p. 272.
17. A. Ribera, Ces mystérieux OVNI, De Vecchi pub., 1976, p. 46.
[Ref. pfe11:] PARIS FLAMMONDE:
This author - who claimed the World War II UFO sightings were sightings of German flying saucers - wrote:
On the following evening [of an evening a few days before Christmas], Lieutenant David McFalls and Ned Baker reported a "glowing red object shooting straight up, which suddenly changed to a view of an aircraft doing a wing-over, gojng into a dive aod disappearing."
[Ref. mbd1:] MICHEL BOUGARD:
The author indicates that on December 24, 1944, a few hours before Christmas Eve, Lieutenants MacFalls and Baker had the same encounter again.
[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:”
The next night the same two men, flying at 10,(XX) feet, observed a single red flame. Lt. David L. McFalls, of Cliffside, N. C., pilot, and Lt. Ned Baker of Hemat, California, radar-observer, also saw: “A glowing red object shooting straight up, which suddenly changed to a view of an aircraft doing a wing-over, going into a dive and disappearing.” This was the first and only suggestion of a controlled flying device.
[Ref. jsn1:] JEAN-CLAUDE SIDOUN:
The author indicates that on December 24, 1944, two pilots from the 415th Fighter Squadron based in Dijon, lieutenants David MacFalls and Edward Baker, a few hours before Christmas Eve saw luminous balls leaving the ground to join their plane. The author believes that this indicates that the balls were already positioned, ready to fly away when a plane passed, which led the pilots to believe that they were remotely controlled, and that for them, “no doubt, these are Nazi weapons!”
The Bristol Type 156 “Beaufighter”, nicknamed “Beau”, was a British multi-role aircraft developed during WWI. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber; it proved to be an effective night fighter, which came into service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain.
Originally, armament consisted of four 20mm cannons and six 0.303-in machine-guns but many variants were built; for example, versions had the ability to additionally carry eight rocket projectiles, some had a Vickers 'K' gun, Beaufighter TF.Mk X was used for anti-shipping operations.
The Beaufighter Mk VIF was fitted with the Mark VIII radar.
Below: Beaufighter Mk VIF of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron.
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The Beaufighters served with the U.S. Army Air Forces until the end of the war, but most were replaced by the P-61 “Black Widow” beginning in December 1944.
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Launches of V-2 German rockets in the night of December 23 to 24, 1944, were:
Dec. 23, at 17:18 p.m. Battery 3./836, Hachenburg, Gehlert (Site 605), V-2 rocket fired, impacted approximately 12km north of Hasselt.
Dec. 23, at 18:43 p.m. Battery 444, Wassenaar (Site 74) (Duindigt - Rennbahn), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Bexley. 1 Dead, 24 seriously injured including 1 in neighbouring Woolwich.
Dec. 23, at 19:22 p.m. Battery 1./836, Hachenburg, Hillscheid (Site 604), V-2 rocket fired, possible impact Edegemsesteenweg, Wilrijk. 5 Dead. 10 Properties demolished.
Dec. 23, at 19:33 p.m. Battery 444, (Site 77), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Hackney (airburst). 29 Persons injured. Extensive slight blast damage.
Dec. 23, at 20:19 p.m. Battery 444, Hoek van Holland, V-2 rocket fired, impacted North Sea off Foulness.
Dec. 23, at 23:41 p.m. Battery 444, Hoek van Holland, V-2 rocket fired, impacted West Row, Suffolk (airburst). No damage.
Dec. 24, at 01:40 a.m. Battery 2./485, (Site 163), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown).
Dec. 24, at 02:22 a.m. Battery 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired, impacted North of Breda, Netherlands.
Dec. 24, at 02:43 a.m. Battery 2./485, (Site 163), V-2 rocket fired (failure). (JP)
Dec. 24, at 05:43 a.m. Battery 1./836, Hachenburg, Hillscheid (Site 604), V-2 rocket fired, possible impact Fort 4, Mortsel. 50 Properties damaged.
Dec. 24, at 06:30 a.m. Battery 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown).
Dec. 24, at 07:30 a.m. Battery 1./485, (Site 19), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Wanstead. 7 Dead, 7 seriously injured. 6 Properties demolished.
Dec. 24, at 08:20 a.m. Battery SS 500, Hellendoorn, Eelerberg (Site 400 - first period), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown).
Dec. 24, at 09:27 a.m. Battery 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired (failure). Flew off course.
Dec. 24, at 09:32 a.m. Battery 1./485, (Site 78), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Eastwood, Essex. 1 Dead, 6 seriously injured. 2 Properties demolished. Widespread damage.
So, launches from Hachenburg, Germany, took place, and could have been easily seen from the Rhine valley.
The description in the official report, “reddish colored flames were observed at considerable distance and at approximately 10,000 feet” could fit a V-2 launch.
The description in the Chamberlin version, a “glowing red object shooting straight up, which suddenly changed to a view of an aircraft doing a wing-over, going into a dive and disappearing”, may also fit, if one agrees that it was not “an aircraft doing a wing-over” but “a view of an aircraft doing a wing-over”, a comparison, not a literal description, as stated.
Probable German V-2 rocket.
* = 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 | May 1, 2024 | Creation, [rwd1], [jcn1], [mbd1], [lgs1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | May 1, 2024 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | June 3, 2024 | Additions [sdm1], [jsn1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | June 6, 2024 | Additions [kml1], [bgd1]. |
| 1.2 | Patrick Gross | June 9, 2024 | Addition [ara1]. |
| 1.3 | Patrick Gross | June 14, 2024 | Additions [wdy1], [vgs1], [rvo1]. |
| 1.4 | Patrick Gross | July 9, 2024 | Addition [kap1]. |
| 1.5 | Patrick Gross | July 26, 2024 | Additions [pfe1], [ibl1]. |
