Comic Smokey

In 1938 the 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 fire foo "to describe the various unexplainable phenomenon seen in the skies of Europe and the Pacific 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 the comments were reported by the enemy, who had assumed the crafts were made to USA. To date, the observations remain a mystery.

During the war, fireballs, estimated to be as big as 300 feet and as small as 1 foot in diameter, have been reported and thoroughly documented. These appearances left witnesses fear-inspired, wary, and frightened-although the Foo Fighters never harmed or attempted to harm anyone. The CIA was ordered in 1952 to consider reports and concluded that, although mysterious, Foo Fighters are not considered a threat to national security.

A Foo fighter is an umbrella term that includes flying objects of various shapes and sizes. rocket wobble or vibration have been described as light 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 disc shaped. They frequently appeared at the end of airplane wings to two or alone, although sometimes they were found in large groups of fifteen or more. In one report 150 objects were estimated to be organized in 10-12 lines. Taking an aircraft, these spots of fire could have the speed of an airplane at high speed by extensive evasive maneuvers for several minutes. A British officer and his crew of sailors followed by an object from the deck of their boat for over an hour. Although a few baffled pilots attempted to intercept, and even fire on the globes, their efforts have failed, and objects in general zoom away from their own.

Foo Fighters have been mentioned in American media. Ponderous articles appeared in Time and Newsweek in 1945, contributing to the wave of UFO consciousness building in the United States. In 1952, when many civilians were contacting government agencies regarding UFO reports that intelligence work has been regularly affected.

Although 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 red discharge brush as atmospheric electricity which has often been seen near the steeples and masts and yards. It also appears at the end of airplane wings.

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 bright bubble of light drifting generally eight inches in diameter. This is usually but not always, follow regular lightning.

4. Bright ground objects reflected from the canopy plastic curves of an aircraft may be perceived as images above the horizon.

5. Proponents of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) have suggested that the Foo Fighters are tangible evidence of ETs visiting Earth.

Foo Fighters are certainly some of the best documented UFO reports, photographs and testimonies abound respected. Hopefully in time the mystery is solved, and the name of comics will be replaced by its true name.