ACUFO:

ACUFO is my comprehensive catalog of cases of encounters between aircraft and UFOs, whether they are “explained” or “unexplained”.

The ACUFO catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file.

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Piacenza, Italy, on February 21, 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1945-02-21-PIACENZA-1

Summary:

In the 2000's, ufology sources indicated that in the 2007 book “Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II” by Keith Chester, this author told that on February 21, 1945, during the night, a Mosquito crew of the 416th Night Fighter Squadron was on an intruder mission near Piacenza, Italy, when they reported seeing “two large red ball of fires” hovering between 4,000 and 5,000 feet for about ten minutes.

The source indicated by Keith Chester was the 416th Night Fighter Squadron Operations Report of February 21, 1945, NARA / Strange Company, Keith Chester, 2007

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	February 21, 1945
Time:	Night.
Duration:	10 minutes.
First known report date:	February 21, 1945
Reporting delay:	Hours.

Geographical data:

Country:	Italy
State/Department:	Emilia-Romagna
City or place:	Piacenza

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	2
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Military operations report.
Visibility conditions:	Night.
UFO observed:	Yes.
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
UFO action:	Hover.
Witnesses action:
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Sensors:	[X] Visual: 2 [ ] Airborne radar: Not reported. [ ] Directional ground radar: Not reported. [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages:
Hynek:	NL
Armed / unarmed:	Armed, 4 7.62 mm Browning machine guns and 4 20 mm Hispano cannons.
Reliability 1-3:	2
Strangeness 1-3:	2
ACUFO:	Insufficient information.

Sources:

[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

Case 97

February 21, 1945

Piacenza, Italy

During the night, a Mosquito crew of the 416th Night Fighter Squadron (NFS) was on an intruder mission when they reported seeing “two large red ball of fires” hovering between 4,000 and 5,000 feet for about ten minutes.

Sources: 416th NFS Daily Operations Report, 21 February, 1945, NARA / Strange Company, Keith Chester, 2007

[Ref. sua1:] WEBSITE "SATURDAY NIGHT UFORIA":

Another sighting would be reported on February 21, 1945...

At 0045 hrs. observed two large red balls of fire, altitude about 4,000 or 5,000 ft. hovered in air about 10 minutes above Piacenza.

The source is indicated to be the Daily Operations Report of the 416th Night Fighter Squadron in Italy.

(Ref. nip1:) "THE NICAP WEBSITE":

Feb. 21, 1945; Piacenza, Italy

Two large red balls of fire; hovering. (Page 140 Ref.1)

The reference 1 is described at the end of the document as “Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester”.

[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:

Date: Feb. 21, 1945

Location: Piacenza, Italy

Time:

Summary: Two large red balls of fire; hovering.

Source:

Aircraft information:

The de Havilland DH.98 “Mosquito” was a British multirole aircraft, which served as a fighter-bomber, torpedo bomber and reconnaissance aircraft with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. The code name for these missions was “Bluestocking”.

Its armament was 4 7.62 mm Browning machine guns and 4 20 mm Hispano cannons.

Its pilot and its navigator were seated side by side, the navigator being shifted back about thirty centimeters for shoulder width.

Discussion:

At the time of this sighting, the 416th Night Fighter Squadron was stationed at the Pisa Airdrome, Italy.

The report is quite meager, for example, we are not told whether the onboard radar and the ground radar detected something or not.

Nevertheless, there remains some strangeness, since two fire-colored balls which appear stationary for 10 minutes intrigued two pilots.

I checked to see whether on that night there could have been two “orange” planets in the sky, Mars and Jupiter; but that was not the case. Jupiter was there, but Mars was not.

Evaluation:

Insufficient information.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

[aaf1] ? 416th Night Fighter Squadron Daily Operations Report, U.S. Army Air Forces, February 21, 1945.
[kcr1] ? "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II", book by Keith Chester, Anomalist Book publishers, USA, page 140, 2007.
[dwn2] * "The Foofighters Files (1) - Catalogue of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena Reported by Allied pilots during WW II (1943-1945)", catalogue by Dominique F. Weinstein, France, October 2009.
[sua1] * "the foo fighters of world war II - Part Three of Three Parts", web page on the Saturday Night Uforia website, 2011, at https://saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/foofightersofworldwariipartthree.html
[nip1] * "UFO Sighting Chronology - 1939-1945; The WWII Years & 'Foo-Fighters'", on the ufology Website The NICAP Website, USA, created December 18, 2006, updated December 5, 2017, at http://www.nicap.org/chronos/1939-1945.htm
[tai1] * "1945: February UFO & Alien Sightings", web page on the Think About It Website, USA, June 22, 2016, at https://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1945-february-ufo-alien-sightings

File history:

Authoring:

Main author:	Patrick Gross
Contributors:	None
Reviewers:	None
Editor:	Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version:	Create/changed by:	Date:	Description:
0.1	Patrick Gross	December 3, 2023	Creation, [dwn2], [nip1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	December 3, 2023	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	December 23, 2023	Additions [sua1], [tai1].

This page was last updated on December 3, 2023.