Foo Fighters — WWII Allied Pilot Reports 1944–45

From late 1944 through the end of World War II, pilots and aircrew of the Allied air forces reported encountering small luminous orbs — nicknamed 'foo fighters' after the Smokey Stover comic strip character — that followed and accompanied their aircraft on missions over Europe and the Pacific. Reports came from B-17 and B-29 bomber crews, P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang fighter pilots, and night bomber crews. The orbs were typically described as bright orange or white, approximately 1-3 feet in diameter, appearing in groups of two or more, and following aircraft without apparent hostility. They were immune to evasion maneuvers, did not respond to gunfire, and in some cases appeared to mimic aircraft maneuvers. Allied military intelligence initially assumed the objects were German secret weapons. Subsequent interrogation of German pilots after the war revealed that German aircrew had reported identical phenomena following their aircraft and had assumed they were Allied secret weapons. Japanese aircrew in the Pacific had made similar reports. The mutual attribution — each side assuming the other side's technology — and the post-war confirmation from Axis records eliminated the secret-weapon hypothesis and left the foo fighters without explanation. The US Army Air Force collected the reports but reached no conclusions. The foo fighters represent the earliest well-documented multi-national military UAP encounter record.