Foo Fighters

During World War II, sightings of unconventional aerial phenomena were reported in both the European and Pacific theaters of war. Most recorded sightings are frtom the last two years of the conflict, and the phenomena (dubbed “foo fighters” after a humorous saying by contemporaneous cartoon character Smokey Stover, who was fond of saysiong, “Where there’s foo there’s fire”) are usually thought of as amorphous nocturnal lights. But a study of the reports indicates that foo fighters represented a broad range of aerial anomalies. Two years after the war, in the wake of the Kenneth Arnold sighting, identical phenomena would be called “flying saucers,” later “UFOs,” and now “unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP).” The best overview of foo fighter phenomena is Keith Chester’s book, Strange Company: Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II (Anomalist Books, 2007).

Foo Fighter clippings, part 1

Foo Fighter clippings, part 2

Foo Fighter clippings, part 3

Foo Fighter clippings, part 4

Foo Fighter clippings, part 5