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Case of Bischwiller, on February 13, 1945:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1945-02-13-BISCHWILLER-1

Summary:

In 1944-1945, crews of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron of the US Army Air Force had repeatedly reported strange lights in the night sky during their missions in the Rhine valley combat zone. They were called "Foo-Fighters" by the crews.

In a combat diary, it appears that one of the 415th NFS members reported a sighting on February 13, 1945, about 07:10 p.m., between Rastatt and Bischwiller.

He encountered two sets of lights at 3000 feet, he turned into them, one went out and the other went straight up 2 000 to 3 000 feet, then went out.

He turned back to base, looked back and saw that the lights were in their original position again.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. aaf1:] U.S. AIR FORCE 415TH NIGHT FIGHTER SQUADRON:

[Ref. bgd1:] BARRY GREENWOOD:

In his ufology bulletin "Just Cause" for September 1992, ufologist Barry Greenwood told that On September 3, 1992, he visited the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland in an effort to locate additional records on Foo-Fighters, and he found fifteen documents were found with fragments of new information.

The focus of the search were the "Mission Reports" records of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, the unit responsible for many of the Foo-Fighter sightings of the period in the Rhine Valley. One of them told about the case in this file:

[Ref. gvo1:] GODELIEVE VAN OVERMEIRE:

[Ref. dwn3:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

[Ref. nck1:] NICK COOK:

[Ref. lhh1:] LARRY HATCH:

[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

The "388" source is indicated as "UFO Briefing document: the best available evidence, D. Berliner and A. Huneeus (1995)".

[Ref. dbr1:] DON BERLINER:

Don Berliner says that documents regarding foo fighter incidents are still being discovered even 50 years after the end of World War II. In 1992, researcher Barry Greenwood of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) went to the National Archives in Suitland, Maryland and located fifteen "Mission Reports" from the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, covering a period between September 1944 and April 1945. It included:

"February 13/14, 1945 - Mission 2, 18:00-20:00. About 19:10, between Rastatt and Bishwiller [sic, "Bischwiller"], encountered lights at 3,000 feet, two sets of them, turned into them, one set went out and the other went straight up 2-3,000 feet [600 - 900 m.], then went out. Turned back to base and looked back and saw lights in their original position again."

The source is indicated as "Greenwood, Barry, "More Foo-Fighter Records Released," Just Cause, No. 33, CAUS, September 1992."

Don Berliner commented: "Suggested explanations, both at the time and subsequently, have included prototype enemy anti-aircraft devices, St. Elmo's fire (glowing balls of static electricity) and simple misidentification of other airplanes."

And: "In order to accept any of the above explanations, one would have to discount the observational skills of scores of veteran combat pilots and their crew members whose very survival depended on their ability to instantly identify and react to any potential threat."

[Ref. nip1:] "THE NICAP WEBSITE":

The source is indicated as the book "Strange Company", by Keith Chester, page 136, 2007.

[Ref. uda1:] "UFODNA" WEBSITE:

The sources are indicated as: "Weinstein, Dominique, Aircraft UFO Encounters, Project ACUFOE, Paris, 1999; Hatch, Larry, *U* computer database, Author, Redwood City, 2002"

[Ref. cvn2:] CHRISTIAN VALENTIN:

Former journalist Christian Valentin published in 2012 a very interesting book telling the story of UFO sightings, flying saucers sightings, in Alsace, from the beginning to 1980.

In this book, he wrote a chapter about the "Foo Fighters" with a general presentation of the topic followed by a chronology of cases.

He says that from the end of September to the end of November 1944, the US 415th Night Fighter Squadron was based on the Dijon Longvic air base, before moving to the old Toul air base on the plate of Ochey, rebuilt by the US military with an artificial landing strip.

One of the reported observations was on February 13, 1945, and he quotes:

He indicates that this is a translated extract of "War Diaries et Unit Reporting" - 145th Night Fighter Squadron, Orhey Air Base, France, according to Barry Greenwood, in Just Cause N°32 et 33, CUFON - Computer UFO Network - Seattle, Washington, USA.

[Ref. rpl1:] ROBERT POWELL:

This author cites this U.S. Air Force report:

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

Discussion:

I must first point out that many other French-speaking and English-speaking websites copy the extract from the US Air Force mission report found by Barry Greenwood, citing or not citing the sources. Some copy my article about the "Foo Fighters", with or without source and most often with an incorrect link to my article. The worst is a French webmaster who copied my entire article, which was itself copied again onto a UFO forum, and he complained about that!

There is obviously little interest that I cite all these copycats.

The location is obviously imprecise: Bischwiller (not "Bishwiller" is in Alsace in France, not in Germany, but Rastatt is in Germany. If the place was truly midway on a straight line between the two village, it was in Alsace, but nothing is less sure:

For general information about the "Foo-Fighters" of the Rhine valley in 1944-1945, refer to my discussion on this other case.

There is also information about the potential of confusions of airplanes in the discussion of this other case.

The 415th NFS received their first P-61 "Black Widow" on March 20, 1945. For this observation, the plane is this still a British-built Bristol Beaufighter in its night fighter version.

A Bristol Beaufighter of the 415th NFS.

It would be quite tempting to think that the "Foo-Fighters" reported here would be Messerschmitt Me-262 jet night fighters, but historically they can be eliminated. The only unit to dispose of it is the "Kommando Welter" attached to the NJG 11, it then operates against the attacks of "Mosquito" in the sector of Berlin and is based in Rechlin-Lärz in the north of Germany then in Burg near Magdeburg - on the route of the "Mosquito" attacking Berlin - and above all, only the leader of the Kommando, Oberleutnant Kurt Welter, has flown night flights then - with 5 victories to his credit. Only his own Me-262 is equipped with UV lamps to read maps and other adaptations; the plan is his five pilots will start their training for night flights, it is expected that they fight in the days that follow.

(See: "Me 262 - Entwicklung, Erprobung und Fertigung des ersten einsatzfähigen Düsenjägers der Welt", by Willy Radinger and Walter Schick, Aviatic Verlag, Oberhaching, Germany, page 75, 1992.)

Evaluation:

Unidentified.

Sources references:

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

• [aaf1] * "Unit Reporting", 415th Night Fighter Squadron of the US Air Force, edited by the Squadron Historian, Ochey US Air Force Air Base, France, February 1945.
• [bgd1] * "More Foo-Fighter Records Released", article by Barry Greenwood, in Just Cause, bulletin of "Citizens Against UFO Secrecy" (CAUS), Barry Greenwood editor, USA, #33, September 1992.
• [dbr1] * "The UFO Briefing Documents - Case histories - 1944-45: 'Foo Fighters' over Europe and Asia", compiled by Don Berliner with Marie Galbraith and Antonio Huneeus, presented by CUFOS, FUFOR, MUFON, December 1995.
• [gvo1] * "Chronologie OVNI", electronic catalogue compiled by Godelieve Van Overmeire, Belgium, circa 1999.
• [dwn1] * "Aircraft UFO Encounters", Project ACUFOE, Dominique Weinstein, France, 1999.
• [dwn2] * "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - Eighty years of pilot sightings - Catalog of Military, Airliner, Private Pilots’ Sightings from 1916 to 2000", compiled by Dominique Weinstein, NARCAP International Technical Advisor, 6th edition, February 2001.
• [lhh1] * "*U* Computer Database", compiled by Larry Hatch, USA, circa 2002.
• [nck1] * "The Hunt for Zero Point - Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology", book by Nick Cook, Brodway Books publishers, USA, page 43, 2002.
• [dwn2] * "Appendix 1 - Catalog of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena - reported by Allied pilots (1942-1945)", catalogue by Dominique F. Weinstein, France, June 20, 2005.
• [nip1] * "UFO Sighting Chronology - 1939-1945; The WWII Years & 'Foo-Fighters'", web page compiled by The NICAP Website, December 18, 2006, updated March 3, 2014, at http://www.nicap.org/waves/1939-1946.htm
• [kcr1] ? "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II", book by Keith Chester, Anomalist Book publishers, USA, page 136, 2007.
• [dbr1] * "UFO Briefing Document: The Best Available Evidence", book by Don Berliner, Random House Publishing Group publishers, USA, page 49, 2008.
• [dwn3] * "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.
• [uda1] * "13 Feb 1945 - Rastatt, Germany", page web par le site UFOdna, circa 2010, à http://thecid.com/ufo/uf11/uf3/113233.htm
• [cvn2] * "Mythes et Réalités des Phénomènes Aériens Non Identifiés - Histoire des soucoupes volantes en Alsace jusqu'en 1980", book by Christian Valentin, Grimoires d'Alsace publishers, France, pages 10,11, 2012.
• [rpl1] * "UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry", book by Robert Powell, Anomalist Books publishers, USA, page 4, 2012.
• [tai1] * "1945 - 1946: Sightings", on the UFO website Think About It, USA, not dated, found in August 2014, at http://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1945-1946-reports

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This page was last updated on Febrruary 6, 2018.