Foo fighter
The term foo fighter was used by Allied aircraft pilots in World War II to describe various UFOs or mysterious aerial phenomena seen in the skies over Europe and the Pacific theatre. Contemporary witnesses often assumed that the foo fighters were secret weapons employed by the enemy, and it was not until after the war that it was discovered neither side had anything to do with them. Despite these fears, foo fighters (whatever they might have been) were apparently never reported to have harmed or tried to harm anyone. To this day the case remains unexplained.
Though usually thought of as blobs of light or fire, several different types of reported phenomena were classified as "foo fighters". "Foo fighter" was supposedly used initially as a semi-derogatory reference to Japanese fighter pilots (known for erratic flying and extreme maneuvering), but it became a catch-all term for fast moving, erratically flying objects. There were several other terms used to describe these objects, such as "Kraut fireballs", but "foo fighter" seems to have been the most popular.
History
Foo fighters were reported on many occasions from around the world; a few examples are noted below.
* Sighting from September, 1941 in the Indian Ocean was similar to some later Foo Fighter reports. From the deck of the S.S. Pu?aski (a Polish merchant vessel transporting British troops), two sailors reported a "strange globe glowing with greenish light, about half the size of the full moon as it appears to us." (Clark, 230) They alerted a British officer, who watched the object's movements with them for over an hour.
* On February 28, 1942, just prior to its participation in the Battle of the Java Sea, the USS Houston reportedly saw a large number of strange, unexplained yellow flares and lights which illuminated the sea for miles around.
* A report was made from the Solomon Islands in 1942 by United States Marine Stephen J. Brickner. Following an air raid alarm, Brickner and others witnessed about 150 objects grouped in lines of 10 or 12 objects each. The objects seemed to "wobble" as they moved; Brickner reported that they resembled polished silver and seemed to move a little faster than common Japanese aircraft. He described the sighting, saying "All in all, it was the most awe-inspiring and yet frightening spectacle I have seen in my life."
* Career U.S. Air Force pilot Duane Adams often related that he had witnessed two occurrences of a bright light which paced his aircraft for about half an hour and then rapidly ascended into the sky. Both incidents occurred at night, both over the South Pacific, and both were witnessed by the entire aircraft crew. The first sighting occurred shortly after the end of World War II while Adams piloted a B-25 bomber. The second sighting occurred in the early 1960's when Adams was piloting a KC-135 tanker.
* Foo fighter reports were mentioned in the mass media. A 1945 Time story stated "If it was not a hoax or an optical illusion, it was certainly the most puzzling secret weapon that Allied fighters have yet encountered. Last week U.S. night fighter pilots based in France told a strange story of balls of fire which for more than a month have been following their planes at night over Germany. No one seemed to know what, if anything, the fireballs were supposed to accomplish. Pilots, guessing it was a new psychological weapon, named it the 'foo-fighter' ... Their descriptions of the apparition varied, but they agree that the mysterious flares stuck close to their planes and appeared to follow them at high speed for miles. One pilot said that a foo-fighter, appearing as red balls off his wing tips, stuck with him until he dove at 360 miles an hour [580 km/h]; then the balls zoomed up into the sky."
* The Robertson Panel cited foo fighter reports, noting that their behavior did not appear to be threatening. Interestingly, the Robertson Panel's report noted that many Foo Fighters were described as metallic and disc-shaped, and suggested that "If the term "flying saucers" had been popular in 1943-1945, these objects would have been so labeled."