The article below was published in the daily newspaper Eau Claire Leader, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA, on January 3, 1945.
See the cases of 1944 - 1945 here.
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A U. S. NIGHT FIGHTER VASE, Jan 2. - (AP) - American fighter pilots engaged in flying intruder missions over Germany report the Nazis have come up with a new "secret weapon" - mysterious "ball of fire" which race along beside their planes like will o' the wisps.
Yank pilots have dubbed them "Foo fighter" and at first thought they might explode, but so far there is no indication that any planes have been damaed by them.
Some pilots have expressed belief that that the "foo fighters" was designed stricly as a psychological weapon. Intelligence reports seem to indicate that they are radio-controlled from the ground and can keep pace with planes flying 300 miles an hour.
Lt. Donald Meiers of Chicago, Ill. said there are three kinds of 'foo fighters,' - red balls of fire which fly along at wing tips; 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 planes at a distance, flicker on and off.
Lt. Schluter of Oshlosh, Wis., said he had seen the "foof-fighter" on thress occasions and it "looked like shooting stars."
Floating and planes-following balls in fire-like colors, added to the silver balls 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 colored and glowing globes might well be added elements in attempts to interfere with radio signals andradar 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. Thus, the metal of the plane would attract them, at the same holding them at a distance. Radio control from the ground or another plane would not permit such apparent acuracy in control.
The glow, coupled with the possible magnetic action, might come from the type of gas they contain to add in their electrical qualities and to add to their buoyancy.
