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