Hey everyone, I've recently become very interested in the topic of "Foo Fighters" during World War Two as well as during other conflicts. I'm planing on doing some stories about the topic and was reaching out for any links, posts, history, etc that forum members found interesting. I'm just starting to research Foo Fighters so all suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.
I knew I had heard the term, but to tell the truth I couldn't put my finger on it. So, I lit up the nifty web and found Foo Fighters and immediately asked myself and everyone else what the heck a rock band had to do with WWII. Then I decided to try another technique and looked up WWII Foo Fighters and found out what you were talking about. UFO's over both of the Pacific and Euopean theaters of operation. Although it is interesting indeed, I do not have much on the subject except one piece of speculation. The V-1 and V-2 were long range missles but only the V-2 was actually called successful. I imagine if I was an allied pilot and seeing one of them flying toward England I would be a little amazed and would have labeled it a UFO. Dunno....just an idea. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_fighter
The term "Foo Fighter" seems to have originated from an artical which was published in 'Stars and Stripes', the G.I. newspaper in Europe. I saw, handled, and read this newspaper some ten years ago at an estate sale. The artical, as I recall, described the entities as 'balls of bright light' which traveled at astounding speeds but did not discuss size or dimensions. I also may have met the man who wrote the original artical. I met him and his wife during a meeting of the 8th AF Association. He was open and forthcoming as to details of his life and times in the Army Air Force in WWII, where he was seconded to Stars and Stripes as a reporter. As we talked the topic of Foo Fighters did not arise. Frankly, that topic was not on my mind that day. But he was tasked to handle Air Power topics for the paper. He was interested in the topic of 'meritocracy' as opposed to other forms promotion. In particular he was interested in the method of Chinese Imperial Burocracy prior to the Revolution (early 20th century). I happened to know more than most, having read a book (artical?) of the topic of the Imperial Examination process within the calendar year. Both he and his wife were hanging on my words. Somehow the topic was switched to "Chinese" Gordon, the British officer solder-of-fortune from the Victorian era. As I remarked interest he promised (and did) to mail me a book from 1884 regarding the man and his life. The book was uninformative and disappointing. Back to writer: after WWII he went to college on the GI Bill, majored in Journalism and subsequently taught the subject and worked for a smalltown newspaper. Sorry, his name escapes me at the moment. Foo Fighters, balls of light, indeterment size, astoundishing fast, not necesarily German in origin.
Hey Preacherbob - thanks for your thoughts and the link. I've seen that link and I like your idea about the V1- V2 connection. That works great for Europe but possible not for the Pacific. This is a neat topic that caught my eye.
Thanks for the info. I can research the Stars and Stripes article and possibly find the authors name. Also, thanks for all of the great reading in your post. I loved ready everything and seeing how dots connect. Thanks!
Howdy 6. I threw a link up there but maybe ya'll can't make it come up. According to the link the "foo" part came from a comic strip circa 1933 in the Chicago Trib. A GI with the 415th night fighter squadron by the name of Meiers was an avid reader and used the term (f bomb) foo fighters during a debriefing and the name stuck. But, since I wasn't there I won't bet my moniker on it. The link also said there were several types of foo but the most popular ones were the fire balls that seemed to chase the allied fighters around. I found a bunch of photos of probable foo fighters but for some reason the link didn't want to transfer. Look up WWII Foo Photos. There should be about a dozen or so.
The other Foo Fighters! In case anyone was wondering the rock band named Foo Fighters took their name from the WWII sightings according to Wiki. That's pretty interesting to me for the soul reason that they had to do a little research to find a cool name for their band. I'm not a big fan but still pretty neat tidbit of information http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_Fighters
Would this be Bob Wilson, @Interrogator#6 ? The article would have been very late 1944, though... is the one you're talking about from later in time?
Great link Diptangshu, That was well worth reading on the couch during a rainy day. Enjoyed it - Thanks for sharing.
