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