In the fall of 1944 work was hurriedly carried out by the SS Technical Branch on a radical disc craft that had absolutely nothing in common with any aircraft ever produced up to that time. The unmanned interceptor VTO disc was to be the product of the Wiener Neustadter Flugzeugwerk (WNF) under SS control. The project was started in 1941 but stalled by technical difficulties with both the propulsion system and the development of a primitive field weapon.

The craft was being developed by the SS Technical Branch awaiting an experimental electrostatic field weapon being developed at Messerschmitt's secret Oberammergau facility in Bavaria with help from the O.B.F. (Oberbayerische Forschungsanstalt).

The aeronautical establishment at Wiener Neustadt (with help from the F.F.O.) developed the first of what WNF named the "Feuerball" (Fireball) in total secrecy.

The very first primitive Feuerball weapons were simple, small silver jet-powered discs launched off catapults and remote-controlled from the ground. These were psychological test weapons to gauge the Allied bomber crews response to the strange machines that defied explanation and which could out-maneuver the Allied aircraft at will. If they were destroyed it was no loss, yet most of them were brought back down to earth for retrieval and re-use.

On a bombing mission over Stuttgart on 6th September 1943, a number of small silvery discs in a pattern 8 feet long and 4 feet wide were observed from B-17s. One supposedly hit the wing of an aircraft and the observers saw the aircraft catch fire. The burning aircraft did not return. The observers were from the 384th Bomb Group. Several German aircraft were above the formation, but no one observed them drop any objects. It was suggested that the discs were some type of incendiary material and tests were run with a number of substances. It was thought that had the enemy planes dropped the objects the pattern would be more spread out before reaching the US aircraft. The possibility that netting was used to keep the objects close together was also suggested.

The incendiary tests were run with a number of possible substances to see what would cause aluminum to catch fire in such a manner. Allied Intelligence felt this might be some new device or technique to break up bomber formations. Obviously, such a report of a new weapon received high level attention. However, neither the USAAF nor RAF could classify what type of weapon they were dealing with until after the D-Day invasion of France.

The first generation production Feuerballs were equipped with Klystron tubes operating on the same frequency of Allied radar, eliminating their radar blip from Allied radar screens and allowing them to approach Allied bomber streams and other intruder aircraft with complete radar invisibility.

The Feuerballs, which were remote-controlled upon take-off were fitted with plume sensors to detect engine exhaust that guided them to Allied bombers. A highly advanced flattened turbojet pushed the Feuerball to speeds of 500-600 mph in the interception phase of flight.

Once the target was detected the Feuerball slowed to employ Messerschmitt's electrostatic field weapon which burned high concentrations of chemicals with additives (Myrol, acetylene, vinylic ethers, and aluminum powder) to produce a fiery “halo” around the weapon as well as a high strength electrostatic field that affected the working cycles of aircraft engines and aircraft radar systems. As a direct result of contact, the bomber radar ceased to function and the pilots struggled to maintain control of the aircraft as the engine ignition systems failed one by one.

But to accomplish this, the early Feuerballs had to slow to match the bombers speed and approach them often as close as 30 meters of the aircraft, right into the sights of the bomber gunners.

To improve chances of success two "other" weapons were also deployed with the Feuerballs. These were "Seifenblasen" (Soap Bubbles) which were weather balloons with a metallic coating and carrying metal strips to confuse Allied radar. When spotted in the daylight sun or moonlit night the reflecting Seifenblasen gave the appearance of a Feuerball. They were derived from the Kriegsmarine’s U-boat secret weapon “Afrodita” (Aphrodite) anti-radar balloons, used as a decoy against patrolling Allied anti-submarine aircraft.

Since the Afrodita balloons worked with some measure of success, the ground-launched Seifenblasen were developed for use against Allied bomber and intruder aircraft radar.

Artist depiction of B-24 Liberators encountering “Foo Fighters

Then to add even more confusion small, purely spherical devices that acted as armed aerial probes were launched - the AEG Kugelwaffen (Ball Weapons).

These probes were much smaller than the Feuerball (roughly the size of a medicine ball) and at first were tested unarmed which meant they were “non-burning“; hence, the December 1944/January 1945 newspaper reports comparing them to shiny Christmas tree balls. Later models carried a smaller version of the electrostatic field weapon that required the small craft to approach bombers much closer than the Feuerballs, usually in groups ranging from 3-10 for effectiveness.

Allied bomber and intruder aircraft could not tell the difference between the three weapons and as such Allied Intelligence labeled all mysterious burning, reflecting, and ball-shaped aerial weapons launched against them as "Foo Fighters".

The origin of this name is a play on the French word for fire (Feu) where the first French encounters took place and a mild reference to the popular US "Smokey Stover" comic about a bumbling fireman that actually started fires! Stover called himself a “Foo fighter” instead of firefighter, so the name stuck. The craft were also referred to as “Gremlins” and the derogatory “Krautmeteors” by the RAF.

The first documented attack of the "Foo Fighters" came on November 23, 1944. A Bristol Beaufighter of the 415th NFS based in Dijon 20 miles from Strasbourg was attacked by ten reddish spheres of small diameter- most likely AEG Kugelwaffen aerial probes. The aircraft's radar ceased to function.

Four days later on November 27, 1944 another Beaufighter from the 415th NFS flying over Speyer was attacked by a lone huge, orange colored sphere of light at an estimated speed of 500 mph several hundred meters above the plane. The object, a WNF Feuerball, was reported to Allied ground radar which failed to pick the Feuerball up.

Attacks against the 415th NFS continued through December 1944 by which time news of the new German secret weapon was circulating. It was subsequently reported in the newspapers on December 13, 1944 in the South Wales Argus, the New York Times on December 14, 1944, and in the New York Herald Tribune on January 2, 1945.

Work on the second generation Feuerball had already begun by the Zeppelin Werk back in 1943. Their projected machine would be a drastic improvement over the initial WNF produced version. While the WNF Feuerball had some anti-radar effectiveness and disabled a few Allied bomber engines they could not stop the Allied bombing campaign against the Reich.

The Zeppelin Werk therefore set about to enlarge the Feuerball considerably and test out various new systems that would make their model lethal. The first radical change was the propulsion system which removed the flattened turbojet powerplant and installed a liquid oxygen turbine engine built by the Kreislaufbetrieb und Fahrzeugmotor D.W. for the F.F.K.F. (Forschungsinstitut fur Kraftfahrt und Fahrzeugmotoren) at Stuttgart.

Highly complicated and prone to failure, that engine was replaced by another radical engine that burned a gelatinous organic/metallic fuel - a total reaction turbine. Proposals to adapt the Walter hydrogen peroxide turbine were rejected as impractical. The Messerschmitt electrostatic weapon was retained but now was added an experimental ejector gun that could spray a concentrated gaseous explosive first tested in Austria in 1936. Guidance was improved with the addition of an infra-red sensor to the plume sensor and some early television guidance equipment.

The first Zeppelin Werk named "Kugelblitz" (Ball Lightning) attacks were made in 1945 when the end was in sight. At least one group of Allied bombers were downed by using the gaseous weapon which Allied Intelligence had reported as "the use of antiaircraft bombs of firedamp against bomber formations over Garda Lake"

While this was inaccurate, the Germans did develop the first aerosol bombs - what we call today "fuel-air explosives“ or FAE. Several were discovered by the British in 1945 while the first concept of using firedamp rockets against the Allied bomber streams was illustrated in the October 1943 issue of the German magazine SIGNAL, launched by a pair of Me Bf 110 heavy fighters.

However, as the Russians advanced towards Austria, the Zeppelin Werk workshops were moved into the Schwarzwald for the last use of these weapons. In April 1945 on order from Berlin the SS destroyed all of the remaining weapons.

Although the German deployment of the Feuerball and Kugelblitz had ended with the collapse of the Third Reich in May 1945 the Germans did manage to technology transfer by U-boot at least a few of the Feuerball weapons to Japan, possibly many more based on photographic evidence and documentation of encounters.

The "Foo Fighter" attacks then resumed in August 1945 with an attack on a B-29 bomber of the 20th Bomber Command based in China Bay; an oval shaped object of considerable size trailing blue-grey smoke.

Intelligence quickly wrote-off the incident as a test of the Japanese Funryu-2 missile, not eager to bring the "Foo Fighter" scare to the PTO. Nevertheless, at least two more attacks occurred in August 1945, the last on August 28, 1945 after VJ Day. Sightings by the 20th AF were made by many crews even when attacks were not pressed.

The Japanese, however, actually feared this weapon. Not understanding how such a machine like the Feuerball flew, the Japanese panicked when the Feuerball was ignited, attributing its flight operation as supernatural in nature. They referred to it as a "Demon Thing" and apparently chose to dynamite the last of them in a pit sometime AFTER VJ Day.

But after Japan was conquered, photographic evidence emerged of both the Kugelwaffen probes and Feuerball weapons. The AEG Kugelwaffen photos are dated from 1942 which means that Germany probably experimented with those first and transported the technology by long-range transport aircraft. Recent photographic evidence now shows that those same Kugelwaffen were spotted over Italian and German-held territory between 1943-1944.

Although the Japanese showed little interest in designing nor developing disc craft during the war, Dr. Giuseppe Belluzzo of Italy worked closely with the SS on the Schriever disc re-design as well as his own jet-powered flying bomb - the Turbo Proietti. The operation and turbine engine design of Belluzzo for the Turbo Proietti is very similar to a Feuerball in appearance.

It may well be that the Italians had a part in developing the early Kugelwaffen and Feuerball. Is it just coincidence that the lone Kugelblitz attack recorded came from the Riva Del Garda area?

Nevertheless, the USAAF never gave an explanation for the "Foo Fighters" which seems hard to believe given the hundreds of documented encounters and sightings with this weapon which were launched from the ground by all three Axis nations.

Only recently in the early 21st century has declassified information revealed that the USAAF knew the weapons were German - they were classified under the designation “Phoo Bombs” .