ALSACAT-1945-01-01-STRASBOURGSAVERNE-1
Among the reports of “Foo-Fighters” seen over Alsace, a case is reported briefly in a U.S. Army Air Forces document written by the 415th NFS Intelligence officer, as having occurred on the night from January 1st to 2nd, 1945, saying “Foo Fighters” were seen north of Strasbourg and north of Saverne.
The report specifies that this and other sighting had no confirmation of the presence of anything in the vicinity on the ground radar, when such confirmation was asked by the crew.
| Date: | January 1 and/or 2, 1945 |
|---|---|
| Time: | Night. |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | January 30, 1945 |
| Reporting delay: | Hour, 1 month. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | Strasbourg |
| Place: | Strasbourg to Saverne |
| Latitude: | 48.838 |
| Longitude: | 7.620 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 40 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 or 2 |
| Number of named witnesses: | ? |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adults. |
| Witness(es) types: | Pilot and/or radar operator of the 415th NFS. |
| Reporting channel: | Official US Army Air Force Intelligence report. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | From two-seater night fighter plane, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night, onboard and ground radar sets. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | ? |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Totally insufficient information. |
[Ref. dhd1:] NEWSPAPER "THE DECATUR HERALD":
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By ROBERT WILSON
Of the Associated Press
A U.S. Night Fighter Base. France. Jan. 1
The Nazis have thrown somethig new into the night skies over Germany - the weird, mysterious “foo-fighters,” balls of fire which race alongside the wings of American Beaufighters flying intruder missions over the Reich.
U.S. pilots have been encountering the eerie “foo-fighters” for more than a month in their night flights. No one apparently knows exactly what this sky weapon is.
The balls of fire appear suddenly and accompany the planes for miles. They appear to be radio-controlled from the ground and manage to keep up with planes flying 300 miles an hour, official intelligence reports reveal.
“There are three kinds of these lights we call 'foo-fighters'”, said Lt. Donald Meiers, of Chicago, Ill. “On is red balls of fire which appear off our wing tips and fly along with us, the second is a vertical row of three balls of fire which fly in front of us and the third is a group of about 15 lights which appear off in the distance - like a Christmas tree up in the air - and flicker on and off.”
The pilots of this night fighter squadron - in operation since Spetember, 1943 - find these fiery balls the weirdest thing they haveas yet encountered. They are convinced that the “foo-fighters” is designed to be a psychological weapon as well as military, although it is not the nature of the fire balls to attack planes.
Others at this base who have encountered “foo-fighters” include Lts. Chester Buoscio, Chicago, Ill., and Anderson Henshaw, Carrier Mills, Ill; Capt. Fritz Ringwald, staff officer from East St. Louis, Ill., went aon gon [sic, along on] a flight after hearing the the numerous reports of the “foo-fighters.”
“I saw lights off the right and told the pilot, who said, 'oh, those are lights on a hill',” Ringwald reported, adding, “I looked in that direction a few minutes later and then told him 'well that hill is considerably closer to us now'.”
[Ref. usa2:] FRED B. RINGWALD, US ARMY AIR FORCE:
The 415th Night Fighter Squadron of the U.S. Air force was formed in February 1943 and it carried out patrols in the Mediterranean and then North-west Europe during World War II.
Through April 1945, the squadron flew patrols and intruder missions, concentrating its attacks on enemy installations, supplies, communications, and troops. It used Bristol Beaufighter British planes at that time.
In December 1944, members of the 415th made multiple reports of what they called “foo-fighters”, as recorded in a January 30, 1945 report to Tactical Air Command by intelligence officer Fred Ringwald.
Here are the parts of that report about the sighting in their case file:
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1. In compliance with paragraph 3 of 1st Incl., the following extracts from the Sortie Reports of various pilots who have encountered the Night Phenomenon are submitted for your information.
[... Other sightings ...]
Night of 1-2 January 1945 - “Saw Foofighters North of Strasbourg and North of Saverne”.
[... Other sightings ...]
2. In every case where pilot called CGI Central and asked if there was a Bogey A/C in the area he received a negative answer.
F.B. RINGWALD [Fred B. Ringwald, the unit's S-2 Intelligence Officer.]
Captain, [Illegible]
Intelligence Officer
Note: the report lists several other sightings in Alsace, those have their own case files. It also lists several sightings whose location is unknown to me as they were coded such as “Q-9050”, “Q-1378” etc... these location may have been over Alsace, over elsewhere in France, or over Germany. As I did not find the meaning for these locations codes, I cannot include these other sighting in ALSACAT for now.
[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
Foo fighters. (Page 131 Ref.1)
The indicated reference corresponds to “Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester”.
[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:
2 January 1945:
France
An object was sighted that had an appearance and performance beyond the capability of known earthly aircraft. One object was observed by one witness (Meiers).
Hynek rating: CE1
Vallee rating: CE1
The sources are indicated as: “Wilkins, Harold T., Flying Saucers on the Attack, Ace Star A-11, New York, 1967; Hall, Richard H., The UFO Evidence, NICAP, Washington, 1964”.
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In yellow, the border. North of Strasbourg and north of Saverne may indicate that this or these “Foo-Fighters” were seen from the Bas-Rhin. The border is about 50 kilometers north of Strasbourg and about 44 kilometers north of Saverne.
For this observation, there is obviously nothing that allows to tell what these airmen saw.
Totally insufficient information.
* = 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 | January 24, 2018 | Creation, [usa2], [nip1], [uda1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | January 24, 2018 | First published. |
| 1.1 | Patrick Gross | February 4, 2023 | Addition [dhd1]. |
