ACUFO:

And then [after December 22, 1944] there was Lt. Samuel A. Krasney's experience: a wingless cigar-shape object, glowing red, just a few yards off the plane's wingtip. Lt. Krasney, justifiably spooked, instructed the pilot to attempt evasive maneuvers, but the glowing object stayed right next to the jet for several minutes before it "flew off and disappeared."

For one thing, the sightings took place over Nazi-occupied Europe, at a time when Germany's Luftwaffe was making tremendous strides. Holding Nazi Germany responsible for the flying glowing orbs isn't too far-fetched. German-born rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, who was brought to the United States to work for the U.S. Fighter Pilot Got into a Dogfight with a UFO Was it the work of Nazi astrophysicists? He did express the view that there were a lot of things during the war that were kept quiet." But although he never seemed prone to conspiracy theories, Krasney says his father was open to one: "He entertained the idea that it could be late-breaking German technology. "He was very level-headed, very analytical," says Krasney of his father, adding that he kept a notebook where he wrote about (and drew) his foo-fighter sighting. In fact, he never even suggested that the glowing wingless cigar-like object that flew next to his plane was extraterrestrial in origin. Krasney's son, Keith Krasney, says his late father didn't fit the stereotypical profile of a UFO theorizer. But there was scant evidence to suggest collective psychosis: The 415th had an otherwise excellent record, and when a reporter for American Legion Magazine went to report on the squadron he described them as "very normal airmen, whose primary interest was combat, and after that came pin-up girls, poker, doughnuts and the derivatives of the grape." Then there were those who claimed that the airmen were suffering from "combat fatigue," a polite way of saying that war stress was driving them insane. Elmo's fire and could distinguish the two. Flares and weather balloons can't track planes like these objects could, and they d seen St. But the members of the 415th rejected all those theories. Elmo's Fire - a phenomenon where a light appears on the tips of objects in stormy weather.

READ MORE: When Dozens of Korean War GIs Claimed a UFO Made Them Sick The "combat fatigue" explanationIn illustration depicting the Decemencounter with 'foo fighters' during a daylight bombing raid on Germany during World War II.In Associated Press reporter broke news of the foo-fighter sightings on January 1st, 1945, and theories about their origins quickly abounded: The sightings were flares, or weather balloons or St. Krasney, justifiably spooked, instructed the pilot to attempt evasive maneuvers, but the glowing object stayed right next to the jet for several minutes before it "flew off and disappeared."Iventually [sic], the airmen named the lights: foo fighters, inspired by the comic strip "Smokey Stover," in which Smokey (a firefighter) would often declare, "Where there's foo, there's fire." Krasney's experience: a wingless cigar-shape object, glowing red, just a few yards off the plane's wingtip. They appear to be under perfect control at all times," according to Keith Chester's Strange Company: Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II.

In December 1944, the encounter of Lt. Samuel A. Krasney intensified the mystery of the foo fighters. He described a wingless, cigar-shaped object radiating a red light, situated mere yards from the plane's wingtip. Alarmed, Lt. Krasney ordered the pilot to perform evasive maneuvers, yet the glowing object remained close to their jet for several minutes before speeding off and disappearing.