ALSACAT:

ALSACAT is my comprehensive catalog of UFO sighting reports in Alsace, the region is the North-East of France, whether they are "explained" or "unexplained".

The ALSACAT catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file. A general index and thematic sub-catalogs give access to these Alsatian case files.

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Case of Strasbourg, on February 9, 1945:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1945-02-09-STRASBOURG-1

Summary:

Among the sighting reports of "Foo-Fighters" found in the UFO literature from combat diaries of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron (415th NFS) of the US Army Air Force, in 1945 in the Rhine valley, it is said that on February 9, 1945, between Breisach and Strasbourg, "a very bright light" was observed, "moving slowly through the air at 6,000 feet; which lasted for 20 seconds."

Some other sources, for the same date, with the same brief description, locate the sighting in Riegel, Germany - unless this was another similar sighting.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	February 9, 1945
Time:	?
Duration:	20 seconds.
First known report date:	1945
Reporting delay:	Heures, semaines?

Geographical data:

Department:	Bas-Rhin
City:	Strasbourg
Place:	From a plane flying 16 km northwest of Strasbourg.
Latitude:	48.656
Longitude:	7.865
Uncertainty radius:	5 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	?
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	Adult.
Witness(es) types:	Military airman.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Military operation report.
Type of location:	Probably from a plane in flight.
Visibility conditions:	?
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	Yes
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?>/td>
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":

Feb. 9/10, 1945; Riegel, Germany

Very bright light moving slowly. (Page 133 Ref.1)

The indicated reference corresponds to "Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester".

[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:

Date: Feb. 9/10, 1945;

Location: Riegel, Germany

Time:

Summary: Very bright light moving slowly.

Source:

[Ref. sua1:] "SATURDAY NIGHT UFORIA" WEBSITE:

That February [1945] the early days of month brought reports from the 415th of a green light "moving rapidly" east to west below 4,000 feet over Colmar, Germany [Sic]; a report that "10 miles northwest of Strassbourg" a crew had watched "a yellow light at 9,000 feet"; and the next night between Breisach and Strassbourg "a very bright light moving slowly through the air at 6,000 feet, which lasted for 20 seconds."

3. The February, 1945 reports of a green light near Colmar, a yellow light near Strassbourg, and a "very bright light" between Breisach and Strassbourg, and a string of lights near Freiburg comes from Keith Chester's book Strange Company, which gives as its source various operations reports.

[Ref. mmy1:] MACK MAHONEY:

The author says that the crews of the 415th NFS reported three more Foo-Fighters sightings in the 9 first day of February 1945 according to Keith chester in "Strange Company".

Discussion:

I quoted the sources [nip1] and [tai1] because oddly, the content is quite similar except the location in Rigel in Germany.

It is quite possible that there is in fact only one observation, at Riegel instead of Strasbourg. The data is very meager and I have not yet found a document from the US Army Air Force that could perhaps indicate what is correct.

A general discussion about the "Foo-fighters" in Alsace can be read in the disucssion of this other sighting.

Evaluation:

Insufficient information.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

[kcr1] ? "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in WWII", book by Keith Chester, Anomalist Books publisher, USA, page 133, 2007.
[nip1] * "UFO Sighting Chronology 1939-1945; The WWII Years & "Foo-Fighters"", web page compiled by The NICAP Website, USA, December 18, 2006, updated March 3, 2014, at http://www.nicap.org/waves/1939-1946.htm
[tai1] * "1945 - 1946: Sightings", on the UFO website Think About It, USA, not dated, found in August 2014, at http://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1945-1946-reports
[sua1] * "The foo fighters of world war II", part 2, on the Saturday Night Uforia website, 2011, at http://www.saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/foofightersofworldwariiparttwo.html
[mmy1] * "UFOs in Wartime: What They Didn't Want You To Know", livre par Mack Maloney, Penguin publisher, USA, 2011.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	January 30, 2018	Creation, [nip1], [tai1], [sua1], [mmy1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	January 30, 2018	First published.

This page was last updated on January 30, 2018.