On this episode of the Sofa King Podcast, we travel back in time to look at one of the earliest events of UFO history, the Foo Fighters of World War Two. Before a grunge band took the name, it was a term used by the US Army to describe unexplained phenomenon that pilots saw over various battle fronts in the war. From the Pacific to Africa, Germany to the Mediterranean, these strange lights in the sky were seen. What’s even more strange is that they were reported by not only US troops but by the Brits, Germans, Italians, and Japanese as well as others.

So what did the pilots see when they reported Foo Fighters? They were typically lights that looked like multi colored fire floating in the sky near aircraft that were flying night missions (though sometimes the lights formed shapes like a T or were cigar shaped). The Foo Fighters changed course to keep apace of the airplanes. They sped up, slowed down, and at times seemed to play with the pilots. The airmen who saw these came to the conclusion that they were under intelligent control.

None of the pilots thought they were alien in origin, but some sort of Axis weapon, aircraft, or surveillance device, so they took the presence of Foo Fighters seriously. Though they were spotted all through the war, the thing that made them the most famous was a string of sightings from the 415th Night Fighter Squadron in 1944. This squad gave them their name, based on an old comic strip. In fact, an embedded Associate Press reporter for the 415th is the one who made the sightings known to a larger audience when he published an article about the Foo Fighters.

So what were these strange UFOs? Many theories run from them being pilot fatigue to St. Elmo’s Fire to a German device (such as the Wernher von Braun’s V2 Rocket or something called a Feuerball), but none of these quite fit the unique characteristics of the Foo Fighters and their behavior in the air. If you love yourself some World War Two, Nazi Tech, and UFOs, this is the one for you!

 

Visit Our Sources:

https://www.history.com/news/wwii-ufos-allied-airmen-orange-lights-foo-fighters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_fighter

https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/what-were-mysterious-foo-fighters-sighted-ww2-night-flyers-180959847/

https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/foo-fighter.htm

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/foo-fighters-learn-to-fly-ufos.html

https://www.history101.com/foo-fighters/

https://www.gaia.com/article/nazi-ufo-technology-foo-fighters-exposed

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/3447508/UFO-sightings-140-years-of-UFO-pictures.html?image=4

https://www.crystalinks.com/foofighters.html

http://www.project1947.com/articles/arwwr.htm

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