The article below was published in the daily newspaper The Davenport Daily Times, Davenport, Illinois, USA, page 1 and 2, on January 2, 1945.
See the cases of 1944 - 1945 here.
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A U.S. Night Fighter Base, France, Jan. 1 (AP) -- American fighter pilots engaged in flying night intruders missions over German report the Nazis have come up with a new "secret weapon" - mysterious "balls of fire" which race along besaide their planes for miles like will o' the wisps.
Yanks pilots have dubbed then "Foo Fighters," and at first thought they might explode, but so far there is no indication that any planes have been damaged by them.
Some pilots have expressed belief that the "foo fighter" was designed strictly as a psychological weapon. Intelligence reports seem to indicate it is radio-controlled from the ground and can keep pace with planes flying 300 miles per hour.
Three types
Lt. Donald Meiers of Chicago said there are three types of "Foo Fighters" - Red balls of fire that fly along at wing tip; a vertical row of three balls of fire which fly in front of the planes, and a group of about 15 lights which follow the plane at a distance, flickering on and off.
Others at this base who have encountered a "Foo Fighter" include Anderson Henshaw, carrier mills, Illinois, and Capt. Fritz Ringwald [Fred Ringwald], staff officer from East St. Louis, Ill., who went along on a flight after hearing the numerous reports of the "Foo Fighter."
"I saw lights off the right and told the pilot, who said, 'Oh, those
are lights on a hill,'" Ringwald reported. He added:
"I looked in that direction a few minutes later and then told him 'Well, that hill is considerably closer to us now.'"
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Floating and plane-following balls in fire-like color, added to the siver globe encountered over the German lines by American airmen, might not be as mysterious as would seem in cabled dispatches, C. E. Butterfield, AP radio editor, says.
This is just a guess, but on the little information available, the colord and glowing globes might well be added elements in attempts to interfere with radio signals and radar detection.
While dispatches hint that they are radio controlled, the fact that they travel along with a plane or stay at a certain distance ahead would tend toward the belief that they instead are magnetic.
