ALSACAT:

ALSACAT is my comprehensive catalog of UFO sighting reports in Alsace, the region is the North-East of France, whether they are "explained" or "unexplained".

The ALSACAT 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. A general index and thematic sub-catalogs give access to these Alsatian case files.

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Case of Colmar, on February 2, 1945:

Case number:

ALSACAT-1945-02-02-COLMAR-1

Summary:

Among the sighting reports of "Foo-Fighters" found in the UFO literature from combat diaries of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron (415th NFS) of the US Army Air Force, in 1945 in the Rhine valley, it is said that on February 2, 1945, an "unusual green light" that moved "rapidly" below 4000 feet was observed near Colmar.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date:	February 2, 1945
Time:	?
Duration:	?
First known report date:	1945
Reporting delay:	Minutes, weeks?

Geographical data:

Department:	Haut-Rhin
City:	Colmar
Place:	Near Colmar, probably from a plane in flight.
Latitude:	48.080
Longitude:	7.358
Uncertainty radius:	10 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses:	?
Number of known witnesses:	?
Number of named witnesses:	0
Witness(es) ages:	Adult.
Witness(es) types:	Military.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel:	Military operation report.
Type of location:	Probably from a plane in flight.
Visibility conditions:	?
UFO observed:	Yes
UFO arrival observed:	?
UFO departure observed:	?
Entities:	No
Photographs:	No.
Sketch(s) by witness(es):	No.
Sketch(es) approved by witness(es):	No.
Witness(es) feelings:	?
Witnesses interpretation:	?

Classifications:

Hynek:	NL
ALSACAT:	Possible meteor.

Sources:

[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

Case 85

Colmar, France

Colmar area, France

At 18h45, a 415th NFS Beaufighter crew was travelling over Colmar area when a green light appeared in the sky. Passing by their starboard side, it was "moving rapidly", travelling at three to four thousand feet altitude in an East to West direction about four miles ahead of the fighter.

Sources: 64th Fighter Wing Mission Report, 415th NFS, February 2/3, 1945, NARA / Strange Company, Keith Chester, 2007

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

Feb. 2, 1945; Colmar, France

Unusual green light & moving rapidly. (Page 133 Ref.1)

The indicated reference corresponds to "Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester".

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

Date: Feb. 2, 1945

Location: Colmar, France

Time:

Summary: Unusual green light & moving rapidly.

Source:

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

That February [1945] the early days of month brought reports from the 415th of a green light "moving rapidly" east to west below 4,000 feet over Colmar, Germany [Sic]; a report that "10 miles northwest of Strassbourg [sic]" a crew had watched "a yellow light at 9,000 feet"; and the next night between Breisach and Strassbourg [sic] "a very bright light moving slowly through the air at 6,000 feet , which lasted for 20 seconds."

3. The February, 1945 reports of a green light near Colmar, a yellow light near Strassbourg [sic], and a "very bright light" between Breisach and Strassbourg [sic], and a string of lights near Freiburg comes from Keith Chester's book Strange Company, which gives as its source various operations reports.

[Ref. mmy1:] MACK MAHONEY:

The author says that the crews of the 415th NFS reported three more Foo-Fighters sightings in the 9 first day of February 1945 according to Keith Chester in "Strange Company".

Discussion:

The "Colmar pocket" was a combat zone in Alsace, France, not in Germany, where the German held their position until the beginning of February when the 4th Moroccan Mountain Division of the French 1st Army cleared them off by linking with the US Army in Rouffach, splitting the "pocket" in two. For the fourth time in 75 years, Alsace changed hands between France and Germany.

Some authors wanted to explain the Foo-Fighters as Nazi secret machines, advanced Nazi craft but not secrets for long, extraterrestrial craft, Saint-Elmo fire, optical illusions, flak shots, etc. etc. The "Foo-Fighters", in general, do not seem to me to be systemically the "same" phenomenon. Here, the very meager description leaves room, with the green color, to the possibility of a meteor.

Evaluation:

Possible meteor.

Sources references:

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

[aaf1] ? 64th Fighter Wing Mission Report, 415th Night Fighter Squadron, US Army Air Forces, February 2-3, 1945.
[kcr1] ? "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II", book by Keith Chester, Anomalist Book publishers, USA, page 133, 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.
[nip1] * "UFO Sighting Chronology 1939-1945; The WWII Years & "Foo-Fighters"", web page compiled by The NICAP Website, USA, December 18, 2006, updated March 3, 2014, at http://www.nicap.org/waves/1939-1946.htm
[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
[sua1] * "The foo fighters of world war II", part 2, on the Saturday Night Uforia website, 2011, at http://www.saturdaynightuforia.com/html/articles/articlehtml/foofightersofworldwariiparttwo.html
[mmy1] * "UFOs in Wartime: What They Didn't Want You To Know", livre par Mack Maloney, Penguin publisher, USA, 2011.

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	March 29, 2017	Creation, [nip1], [sua1], [tai1], [mmy1].
1.0	Patrick Gross	March 29, 2017	First published.
1.1	Patrick Gross	December 15, 2023	Addition [dwn2].

This page was last updated on December 15, 2023.