# Why no reports of anyone taking a shot at a foo fighter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 7, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637 "2003-08-07T18:28:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/1 "2003-08-07T18:28:42Z")
Here at the [tin foil hat](http://ufoarea.bravepages.com/events_foofighters.html)society home page, we see a pretty good description of what a foo fighter is/was, along with lots of accounts. What I don’t get is how, in a war zone, a bizarre and unknown object can come up behind a heavily armed aircraft and not get shot at? Also any thoughts as to what these things were? Has any one seen one lately? I’m thinking some kind of natural phenomenon, not little green men. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/2 "2003-08-07T22:08:40Z")
My dad saw them. They were too fast for the gunners to hit. He later decided they were ME-163s but I thought he was shot down before they went operational (5/14/44). I’ll have to look into when he was shot down. He said he was lucky because he got to England after the first Schweinfurt raid (8/17/43) and crashed in Switzerland before the second (10/14/44)–he was real glad to miss both of those raids. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/3 "2003-08-07T22:10:23Z")
**dropzone** ’s account notwithstanding, my own pet theory as to why nobody shot at a particular _kind_ of foo fighter satisfies me to no end. Your results may vary. Many of the reports came from British bomber crews flying at night. The reports are often similar: a bright light flying closely behind a bomber, making impossible maneuvers and changing direction seemingly at will. I theorize that the reason why these objects were not fired upon by the person in the best place to do it–the tail-gunner of the pursued plane–is because he was preoccupied at the time. He was busy playing a flashlight on the contrail of his own plane, scaring the piss out of his mates on a long and largely uneventful flight. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2003, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/4 "2003-08-07T22:44:23Z")
Hey, **dropzone** , check [this out](http://www.sml.lr.tudelft.nl/~home/rob/me163/units.htm): > [@](#): > > Erprobungskommando 16 (EK16) > > May 1944 EK16 ready for operational use > > 13 May 1944 First operational mission with all-red Me 163B V-41 by Major Späte > > Between 13-20 May 1944 Second operational mission with Me 163B V-33 by Opitz However, from that vague timeline it looks as if the first combat flight was in August, 1944. The test group was based in Bad Zwischenahn, but I have no idea where that is or where your dad was going when he went down. I found the coincidence interesting, though. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/5 "2003-08-08T00:06:07Z")
What a GREAT name for a rock group!!! Oh…never mind… ---
**Author:** ![gypsymoth3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@gypsymoth3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gypsymoth3)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/6 "2003-08-08T02:13:56Z")
i’m sure Groll has too many body guards for that. besides, his music isn’t all THAT bad. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/7 "2003-08-08T14:19:06Z")
\*\* Sofa King \*\* wrote: > [@](#): > > He was busy playing a flashlight on the contrail of his own plane, scaring the piss out of his mates on a long and largely uneventful flight. He he heee…that’s funny. And about what I would expect. Except I thought contrails were only found behind \* jet \* aircraft. \*\* dropzone \*\* wrote: > [@](#): > > He later decided they were ME-163s I had not previously herd of the ME-163. It looks like one of those back yard ultra light kit airplanes. I was thinking this might be some kind of static generated by these giant prop driven aircraft, after all, this was talked about over Japan, and by the enemy on both sides as well, (as far as I can tell from the solid reference site of the tin foil hat society that is). But anyway, at this point there is no explanation for these things and no one had been able to recreate the phenomena lately, is what I really wanted to find out, where is Cecil when you need him? ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/8 "2003-08-08T14:30:50Z")
Or heard of one even. ---
**Author:** ![Janx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Janx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Janx)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/9 "2003-08-08T14:45:19Z")
Or heard of one even. ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-no-reports-of-anyone-taking-a-shot-at-a-foo-fighter/193637/10 "2003-08-08T15:03:39Z")
But he’s heard of two evens.