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enon like ball lightning. It would be nice to be wrong about Foo Fighters, but the secret weapon hypothesis remains highly unlikely. although there are no verifiable reports that explain why there were sightings of brilliant enon like ball lightning. It would be nice to be these objects physically interfered with Allied — globes above the Pacific during the war with wrong about Foo Fighters, but the secret aircraft. The leading proponent of the secret Japan. Some people have suggested these weapon hypothesis remains highly unlikely. weapon theory was Renato Vesco (1924- incidents came about after a technology 1999), an Italian aircraft engineer based in _ transfer from Germany to Japan. The Horten Brothers and Flying Discs Genoa. He claimed that Foo Fighters were Whatever the truth, there can be little | Reimar Horten (1915-1993) and his well-con- small, unmanned robot vehicles called doubt that there was official concern about _ nected brother Walter (1913-1998) began to Feuerball (Fireball), which were designed to _ these frequent encounters with balls of light | design and build sophisticated tailless gliders emit radio frequency pulses that interfered over occupied territory. Towards the end of — during the early 1930s. At the start of World with the electrical systems of enemy aircraft. 2002 American aviation researcher Joel Car- | War Two, both brothers joined the Luftwaffe Vesco, who said he had worked on secret _ penter discovered a previously secret USAAF as pilots. In 1942, Major Walter Horten took projects for the Germans during the War, _ Intelligence Log (UKX-23426) dated 27th Jan- command of Sonderkommando (Special maintained that the Feuerball was developed __uary 1945. This intriguing document warns of Detachment) 9 based at Géttingen Airfield, at a Luftwaffe research facility near Oberam- new German aviation technology that might where he was soon joined by his brother. mergau in Bavaria and equipped with a produce magnetic pulses capable of interfer- | With their considerable experience in aero- device capable of transmitting high fre- ing with the ignition systems of aircraft nautical design, Sonderkommando 9 would quency pulses. Apparently engineers from engines. Countermeasures are suggested, (almost exclusively) develop their flying Henschel and Zeppelin, working directly which take the form of component shielding. _ wings into military aircraft. under the SS, were responsible for designing The overriding problem with the secret The brothers now turned their attention to Feuerball. These small, unmanned vehicles weapon theory is one of technological limita- _ the idea of a jet fighter based on the flying are described as disc-shaped and powered _ tionanda device like the Feuerball that incor- wing concept. This led to the astonishingly by a very compact type of RFGT, which gen- porated such a concentration of advanced advanced Horten 1X/Gotha Go 229 fighter- erated the brilliant orange or red exhaust engineering would have been way beyond — bomber that was initially constructed in the glow that readily explained the descriptions _ the capabilities of German wartime science, | G6ttingen workshops and had entered pro- of Foo Fighter objects. or for that matter any other country, during duction when hostilities ceased. The one- Vesco claimed that after Germany’s sur- the 1940s. man Go 229 with its 55ft (16.7m) wingspan render the technical data concerning the Such a craft would require a very sophisti- was potentially capable of reaching more Feuerball was secured by British Intelligence cated guidance system and a reliable radio than 600mph (965km/h), which was roughly and immediately classified Top Secret. This is _ link to a command centre. Computers were 130mph (209km/h) faster than the most an interesting and neat explanation for barely a reality at this time and artificial intel- advanced Allied piston-engined warplane numerous late-World War Two sightings of _ ligence was pure science fantasy, soa Feuer- (the outstanding North American P-51H Mus- Foo Fighters, but there appears to be no real _ ball with a mind of its own was completely _ tang). Furthermore, the Go 229 was expected substance to it. Aside from never managing to —_ out of the question. Add a method of generat- to have a maximum altitude of 52,000ft track down Vesco while he was alive, it is ing powerful electromagnetic pulses and a (15,849m), which was 12,000ft (3,657m) worth noting that he would have been no __ very exotic engine to this package and you above the P-51’s ceiling. In short, the overall more than twenty-one years of age when the _ have something that appears tocome straight performance of this aircraft was many years War in Europe concluded, which would from someone’s over-active imagination. ahead of its time. undoubtedly limit his apparent involvement That said, the glowing balls of light seen by In appearance, the Go 229 was a smoothly with any top-secret Nazi air defence project. Allied aircrews were realand can probablybe contoured one-piece boomerang with no sig- Nor does the Feuerball hypothesis easily linked to some unidentified natural phenom- _ nificant protrusions, powered by two Junkers Jumo 004 turbojets recessed in the fuselage. The sleek shape, in combination with low- cost constructional materials, might have generated a relatively small radar signature and during the 1990s a number of well- known researchers drew attention to this possibility. They suggested that the Go 229 was intended to be stealthy and emphasis was placed on the use of a 17mm-thick ply- wood sandwich for the skin, which contain- ing a middle layer of resin-bonded sawdust and charcoal. Walter (left) and Reimar Horten (right) were at the forefront of advanced flying wing design and both were tracked down in the immediate postwar period by US Intelligence as possible creators of the flying discs seen around the world, which were suspected of being Soviet aircraft. In the background of this photograph are the Horten Ho 11 (left) and Ho 111 gliders. Courtesy of David Myhra 48 Secret Projects: Flying Saucer Aircraft