ACUFO-1945-02-14-LANDAU-1
Barry Greenwood, a US ufologist, leading member of the Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS), published in the bulletin Just Cause of this group, in September 1992, a number of mission reports of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, from the US military archive, in search for previously undocumented “Foo-Fighters” reports.
He noted that these reports tended to be brief in their descriptions of everything, mixing prosaic actions such as aircraft destroyed, buildings bombed, flak, vehicles destroyed with scattered reports of strange lights in the sky. One of those he cited was:
“February 14/15, 1945 - Mission 2 - 1940-2140 - String of lights north of Freiburg, (1 red one in center, 4 white ones on each side) blinking on and off.”
Greenwood cautioned that the brevity of these reports was frustrating, so that it is difficult to form a hypothesis on the origin of Foo-Fighters. He pointed out that 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.
| Date: | February 14, 1945 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Probable night. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | February 15, 1945 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours. |
| Country: | Germany |
|---|---|
| State/Department: | Rheinland-Pfalz |
| City or place: | Landau in der Pfalz |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Reporting channel: | Military mission report. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | Probable night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| UFO action: | Blinking. |
| Witnesses action: | |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: 1 or 2.
[ ] Airborne radar: [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | ? |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed, machine guns and 20 mm cannons. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 3 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 1 |
| ACUFO: | No reported strangeness. |
[Ref. aaf1:] 415TH NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON - U.S. ARMY AIR FORCES:
|
MISSION REPORT
UNIT REPORTING: 415TH NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON
MISSIONS: 4 MISSIONS 4 SORTIES DATE: FEBRUARY 14/15
REPORT:
1. 1825/2005 - WISSEMBOURG - LANDAU - GERMERSHEIM - KARLSRUHE AREA.
Observed: 10 orange lights evenly spaced about 5,000 fet. North of Strasbourg, West bank of Rhine.
Claims: Destroyed 2 M/T [military trucks] and damaged 5 M/T going West at R-3570 at 1900 hours. Destroyed 1 gas dump at R-3080. Saw group of lights. Strafed and large fire about 100 yards in diameter started. strafed 4 M/T going north between Germersheim and Karlsruhe - no results observed.
Enemy air? 2 bogies reported by Contral [radar station], but guns had jammed up so forced to return to base.
General traffic: West side of Rhine between Strasbourg and Speyer West and Southwest.
East side of Rhine traffic north and northeast.
2. 1940/2140 - INTRUDER. LANDAU TO FREIBURG AREA.
Destroyed 5 M/T, damaged 3 M/T going north at W-0565. 15 M/T going north at W-0250 - 1 M/T destroyed, 8 M/T damaged. Heavy raid on MANNHEIM or LUDWIGSHAVEN. (Many searchlights and much flak). String of light north of Freiburg, (1 red one in the center , 4 white ones on each side) blinking off and on. Large fires just south of Ottenheim.
3. 2215/2245 - INTRUDER. Rough engine. Returned early.
4. 0420/0445 - INTRUDER. Haze. Returned early.
| CLAIMS | DESTROYED | DAMAGED |
| Motor transport | 8 | 18 |
| Gas dump | 1 | 0 |
LOSSES -- None
[Ref. jce1:] UFOLOGY BULLETIN "JUST CAUSE":
The “Citizens Against UFO Secrecy” (CAUS) newsletter reported that on September 3, 1992, their editor Barry Greenwood searched the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland, USA, to find more documents on the Foo-Fighters emanating from of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, and had found some, mainly “Mission Reports”. Barry Greenwood reported:
[...]
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.
He then gave the 15 such cases he found, including:
February 14/15, 1945 - Mission 2 - 1940-2140 - String of lights north of Freiburg, (1 red one in center, 4 white ones on each side) blinking on and off.
Greenwood noted:
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.
[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:
A 415th NFS Beaufighter crew was flying between Landau and Freiburg on an intruder mission, when their attention was drawn to a “string of lights north of Freiburg (one redone in the center, four white ones on each side) blinking off and on.”
Sources: 64th Fighter Wing, Mission Report: 415th Night Fighter Squadron, 14/15 February, 1945 NARA / Strange Company, Keith Chester, 2007
(Ref. nip1:) "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
Feb. 14/15, 1945; Freiburg, Germany
String of lights & (1 red one in center, 4 white ones on each side) blinking off and on. (Page 136 Ref.1)
The reference 1 is described at the end of the document as “Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester”.
[Ref. sua1:] "SATURDAY NIGHT UFORIA" WEBSITE:
The next night [February 14-15, 1945] an aircrew reported “a string of lights north of Freiburg (1 red one in center, 4 white ones on each side) blinking off and on.” But even so, by February, 1945 reports of 'foo fighters' from the French-based 415th were dwindling, and would remain only sporadic for the duration of the war -- the reasons for which can only be surmised.
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: Feb. 14/15, 1945
Location: Freiburg, Germany
Time:
Summary: String of lights & (1 red one in center, 4 white ones on each side) blinking off and on.
Source:
The Bristol Type 156 “Beaufighter”, nicknamed “Beau”, was a British multi-role aircraft developed during WWII. 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 Force until the end of the war, but most were replaced by the P-61 “Black Widow” beginning on March 20, 1945.
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This is one of those reports where we cannot tell whether the lights were in the air or on the ground.
The lights may have been those of vehicles passing behind obstacles at times, for example.
No reported strangeness.
* = 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 | April 17, 2024 | Creation, [jce1], [dwn2], [nip1], [sua1], [tai1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | April 17, 2024 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | June 15, 2024 | Addition [aaf1]. |
