|
In
the 1938 comic strip
Smokey Stover, a firefighter
was known for his line,
“Where there’s foo,
there’s fire.” From
Smokey, aircraft pilots
borrowed the term “foo
fire” to describe the
various unexplainable
phenomenon seen in the
skies over Europe and
the Pacific theatre
during World War II.
While Allied pilots
initially thought the
flying objects were
German secret or psychological
weapons, after the war
it was discovered that
sightings were also
reported by the enemy,
who had assumed the
crafts were US-made.
To this day, the sightings
remain a mystery.
Over
the course of the war,
fireballs, estimated
to be as big as 300
feet and as small as
1 foot in diameter,
were reported and thoroughly
documented. These apparitions
left witnesses awe-inspired,
wary, and frightened—although
the foo fighters never
harmed or attempted
to harm anyone. The
CIA was commissioned
in 1952 to study the
reports and concluded
that while mysterious,
foo fighters were not
a considered a threat
to national security.
A Foo
fighter is an umbrella
term that includes flying
objects of various shapes
and sizes. Wobbling,
or vibrating flares
were described as glowing
globes of intense green,
yellow, red, orange,
or white lights. One
crew even reported observing
the phosphorescent spheres
going through a sequence
of color changes at
regular intervals. Other
reports describe them
as silver or gold metallic,
and disk-shaped. They
frequently appeared
at the wing tips of
planes in pairs or alone,
although sometimes they
were found in larger
clusters of fifteen
or more. In one report
150 objects were estimated
to be arranged in 10-12
lines. Picking up an
aircraft, these blobs
of fire could reportedly
pace a plane at very
high speeds through
extensive evasive maneuvers
for several minutes.
One British officer
and his crew of sailors
tracked an object from
the deck of their vessel
for over an hour. Although
a few baffled pilots
attempted to intercept,
and even fire upon the
globes, their efforts
were unsuccessful, and
the objects usually
zoomed away of their
own accord.
Foo
fighters were mentioned
in the American mass
media. Ponderous articles
appeared in Time and
Newsweek in 1945, contributing
to the wave of UFO consciousness
building in the US.
By 1952 so many civilians
were contacting government
agencies regarding UFO
reports that regular
intelligence work was
being affected.
While
scientists have never
been able to explain
the phenomenon, many
speculations have been
advanced as possibilities.
Five of the most plausible
theories are:
1.
The fireballs may be
nothing more than St.
Elmo’s Fire, a reddish
brush-like discharge
of atmospheric electricity
which has often been
seen near the tips of
church steeples, ships’
masts and yardarms.
It also appears at a
plane’s wing tips.
2.
They may have been optical
illusions, mere after-images
of light remaining in
pilots’ eyes after being
dazzled by flak bursts.
3.
Occurrences may have
been the rare effect
of “ball lightning,”
a glowing, drifting
bubble of light typically
eight inches in diameter.
These generally, though
not always, follow regular
lightning strikes.
4.
Bright ground objects
reflected from the curved
plastic canopy of an
aircraft can be perceived
as images above the
horizon.
5.
Proponents of the extraterrestrial
hypothesis (ETH) have
suggested that foo fighters
are hard evidence of
ETs visiting earth.
Foo
fighters are certainly
some of the best documented
reports of UFOs, and
photographs and respected
testimony abound. Hopefully
in time the mystery
will be solved, and
this comic book name
will be replaced by
its true name.
About
the Author:
Francesca Black a long
time science fiction
buff, manages content
for UFO Gifts http://www.ufo-gifts.com
and Science Fiction
Corner http://www.science-fiction-corner.com
|
Welcome to UFO Gifts