The article below was published in the daily newspaper Gazette and Daily, of York, Pennsylvania, USA, page 22, on January 4, 1945.
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(By Science Service)
Washington -- reports of mysterious balls of fire racing along with American planes on night missions over Germany, nicknamed "foo-fire" by our pilots, have scientists here frankly guessing. No one wants to venture a flat-footed opinion regarding either the nature or the purpose of the device. About the only point of general agreemen is that it is certainly not radio-controlled, as some of the pilots have suggested.
If it follows the movements of plane as clearly as the published description state, it must make use of some attractive force, magnetic or otherwise, inherent in the plane itself, physicist here believe. No known kind of control from the ground could make it stick so tight to the near neighborhood of its target.
Since the descriptions all agree that the mysterious fireballs have neither explosive nor incendiary effect, their purpose remains largely conjectural. The two most plausible guesses are: (1) they are intended to dazzle the eyes of the pilot, breaking down their carefully built-up vision; (2) they serve as easily-followed aiming points for flak gunners, rather than the elusive dark shape of the plane itself.
Some of the scienitsts quizzed about the "foo-fighters" were inclined to doubt their reality as actual Nazi weapons. The pilots may see lights in the sky, all right, they admitted; but these may be due to simple natural causes.
