Pentagon UFO files: Germany's role

For years, the New York Times has tracked the release of US UFO files, which cover more than sightings. They reach back to the Second World War, where Germany appears again and again. Luminous objects in the sky, mysterious military reports and files that were kept under lock and key for decades: new UFO documents shed light on some of the most puzzling cases of recent decades. One focus of the historical files are reports by Allied pilots from the final months of the Second World War. They described glowing, high-speed flying objects that accompanied their aircraft over Germany. These phenomena later became known as "Foo Fighters". In the file (source in German) (source in English) it states verbatim: On the night of 22 December 1944, two lights rose from the ground near an aircraft of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron, climbed to its altitude, took up position behind its tail for around two minutes and then 'broke away again' – according to the crew, always under 'complete control'. Ground radar confirmed that there were no enemy aircraft in the vicinity. Such encounters were repeated several times. Over a period of six weeks, crews of the 415th over Germany and France reported red, green, orange and amber lights that flew in formation with their aircraft, carried out evasive manoeuvres and approached to within about 30 metres. The pilots called these phenomena "Foo Fighters". The British Air Ministry investigated the reports and concluded, in a memorandum classified as secret from March 1945, that "the whole affair remains somewhat mysterious". Separately, pilots also reported sighting an aluminium cylinder roughly 3.6 metres long at an altitude of around 2,700 metres. When fired upon by the aircraft, the object partially lost its shape and emitted a red glow, but did not break apart. The intelligence service classified it as probably a German "flak bomb". No one had a clear explanation for the mysterious lights. The file remained classified for 80 years. {{image align="center" size="fullwidth" ratio="auto" id="4560370" src="https://images.euronews.com/articles/stories/09/85/94/06/808x1122_cmsv2_340ac39a-15a6-5699-bbc3-9d57d07fe1e7-9859406.jpg" url="https://images.euronews.com/articles/stories/09/85/94/06/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_340ac39a-15a6-5699-bbc3-9d57d07fe1e7-9859406.jpg" caption="1945: A file containing reports from fighter pilots about " night="" phenomena="" (Foo="" Fighters)="" hovering="" cylindrical="" objects="" and="" unusual="" light="" .="" alt="1945: A file containing reports from fighter pilots about " credit="Department of War" copyrightlink="https://warufo.com/document/14" naturalwidth="800" naturalheight="1105" }} Military officials examined several possible explanations. One possibility was that they were previously unknown German secret weapons or experimental aircraft with novel rocket or jet propulsion systems. However, the investigations found no clear evidence of this. Declassified FBI reports, "Nazi UFOs" The released material also includes historical FBI documents from the 1940s and 1950s in which reports appear about alleged German developments of disc-shaped flying devices. Some of these references relate to possible secret research projects in the Berlin area and in regions near the Austrian border. However, the reports do not come from technical investigations or verified military files; they are based mainly on statements by informants, rumours and intelligence tips from the immediate post-war period. They therefore chiefly reflect which reports the authorities were following up at the time. The documents provide no evidence that Nazi Germany actually developed operational 'flying discs' with extraordinary flight performance. Historians place many of these stories in the context of speculation about German secret weapons, psychological warfare and the Allies' search for advanced German technology. In SHAEF and Air Ministry memoranda from 1944/45, there are repeated descriptions of, among other things, red, green, orange and amber lights that appear to move in a controlled way, fly in formation with aircraft and at times approach them to short distances. Some observers report arrow-shaped objects. Despite this variety, recurring patterns emerge: many of the described flying bodies appear to have no discernible wings, rotors or conventional propulsion. In addition, they are attributed unusual properties, such as apparently motionless hovering in the air, sudden accelerations or flight manoeuvres that are difficult to explain using known technologies. Glowing shapes, unknown flight manoeuvres Later investigations such as the US Air Force programme Project Blue Book (1947-1969) also documented a wide range of sighting reports. Observers described, among other things, glowing geometric shapes, disc-shaped or arrow-like objects and phenomena without visible wings, rotors or conventional propulsion systems. Some reports described objects that seemed to hover motionless in the air, accelerate abruptly or perform flight manoeuvres that were hard to explain with the aviation technologies known at the time. Alongside the historical documents, the archives contain numerous records from more recent times. Since the public revelation of the Pentagon programme AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) in 2017, the United States has expanded its investigations into so-called UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena). The Department of Defense has set up new structures to collect and assess unusual observations by military personnel. The Pentagon has also released several recordings of unidentified flying objects that had previously not been made public, including videos from Navy pilots from 2004 and 2015 whose recorded phenomena could not initially be clearly identified. In some documents, service members also report physical complaints after close encounters, such as nausea, headaches, skin irritations or neurological symptoms. What lies behind these unresolved observations remains disputed to this day. Suggested explanations range from known technical phenomena and misinterpretations to far more far-reaching hypotheses. {{image align="center" size="fullwidth" ratio="auto" id="4560375" src="https://images.euronews.com/articles/stories/09/85/94/06/808x755_cmsv2_b0c0a08c-061e-5be5-8298-79b3cd38e4fa-9859406.jpg" url="https://images.euronews.com/articles/stories/09/85/94/06/{{w}}x{{h}}_cmsv2_b0c0a08c-061e-5be5-8298-79b3cd38e4fa-9859406.jpg" caption="Filmed from an F/A-18 on 21 January 2015 off the coast of California. The video shows an elongated object flying at high speed against the wind direction." alt="Filmed from an F/A-18 on 21 January 2015 off the coast of California. The video shows an elongated object flying at high speed against the wind direction." credit="Navy UAP" copyrightlink="https://www.navair.navy.mil/foia/sites/g/files/jejdrs566/files/document/%5Bfilename%5D/2%20-%20GIMBAL.mp4.mp4" naturalwidth="800" naturalheight="745" }} This new transparency in the handling of Pentagon records is also being closely observed in Europe. Security and defence experts are monitoring the US initiatives, as unusual airspace phenomena are increasingly viewed as a potential security and intelligence issue. Between history and speculation The newly released files show above all one thing: interest in unusual flight phenomena goes back a long way and is closely linked to historical events such as the Second World War. Germany does feature in the documents, but the material provides no proof of extraterrestrial spacecraft or secret German "flying discs". Rather, they document how military and intelligence services have spent decades trying to explain unusual sightings, and how enduring myths have grown out of them to this day.