ACUFO-1944-12-28-ARDENNES-1
Ufology sources in the 2010's indicated that in the 2007 book “Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II”, by Keith Chester, it was reported that on December 28, 1944, in the Ardennes, in Belgium, a “large white light” was observed, without radar contact. It went straight up at a tremendous speed and disappeared.
| Date: | December 28, 1944 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ? |
| Duration: | ? |
| First known report date: | 2007 |
| Reporting delay: | Hours, 6 decades. |
| Country: | Belgium |
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| State/Department: | |
| City or place: | In the Ardennes area. |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | ? |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | ? |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Reporting channel: | Keith Chester UFO book. |
|---|---|
| Visibility conditions: | ? |
| UFO observed: | Yes. |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes. |
| UFO action: | Went straight up. |
| Witnesses action: | |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Sensors: |
[X] Visual: ?
[ ] Airborne radar: Negative. [ ] Directional ground radar: [ ] Height finder ground radar: [ ] Photo: [ ] Film/video: [ ] EM Effects: [ ] Failures: [ ] Damages: |
|---|---|
| Hynek: | ? |
| Armed / unarmed: | Armed. |
| Reliability 1-3: | 2 |
| Strangeness 1-3: | 1 |
| ACUFO: | Probable V-2 rocket launch. |
(Ref. nip1:) "THE NICAP WEBSITE":
(1944) Dec. 28, 1944; Ardennes, Belgium
Large white light; no radar contact; went straight up at a tremendous speed; disappeared. (Page 108-110 Ref.1)
The reference 1 is described at the end of the document as “Strange Company (2007), Keith Chester”.
[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:
Date: Dec. 28, 1944
Location: Ardennes, Belgium
Time:
Summary: Large white light; no radar contact; went straight up at a tremendous speed; disappeared.
Page 108-110 Ref.1
No information on the aircraft is available. I can only suspect that it was a night fighter plane since a radar set is mentioned.
Below: the Belgian part of the Ardennes:
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It is obvious that the description in this report bears no resemblance to those of the “Foo-Fighters” that caused a sensation.
A priori, the explanation should be obvious: a V-2 rocket launch.
The V-2 (photo below) emits a strong white light, rises very fast, leaves the atmosphere, then falls back to reach its target.
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The “classic Foo-Fighters”, for their part, are most often red in color, arrive towards a plane from the rear, alone, in pairs or even in groups, and demonstrate behavior guided by intelligence when the pilot attempts evaasive maneuvers: they follow the maneuvers. Nothing like it here!
V-2 operational units are said variously to have launched between 2,970 and 3,280 missiles between September 1944 and April 1945.
At www.v2rocket.com/start/deployment/timeline.html there is a list of the known V-2 rocket launches; here are those of December 28, 1944:
04.49 - Batt. 1./836, Hachenburg, Hillscheid (Site 604), V-2 rocket fired (failure). (*JP)
04.49 Batt. 1./836, Hachenburg, Hillscheid (Site 604), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
06.50 Batt. 3./836, Hachenburg, Gehlert (Site 605), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
08.55 Batt. 2./485, (Site 163), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
09.48 Batt. 2./485, (Site 161), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
10.15 Batt. 2./485, (Site 163), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Oorderen, Antwerp. (*JP)
11.12 Batt. 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired, probable impact Meerlenhoflaan, Hoboken. 10 Properties destroyed. (*JP)
12.17 Batt. 2./485, (Site 158), V-2 rocket fired, impacted open ground near Lindenstraat, Ekeren. 1 Dead, 25 properties damaged. (*JP)
12.59 Batt. 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
14.30 Batt. 2./485, (Site 163), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
14.53 Batt. 2./485, (Site 163), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
15.18 Batt. 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
16.22 Batt. SS 500, Hellendoorn, Eelerberg (Site 400 - first period), V-2 rocket fired, exploded at launch site.
16.35 Batt. 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
17.28 Batt. SS 500, Hellendoorn, Eelerberg (Site 400 - first period), V-2 rocket fired, impacted Pretoriastraat, Antwerp / Berchem. 4 Dead, 17 properties destroyed. (*JP)
20.13 Batt. 2./485, (Site 163), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
21.22 Batt. SS 500, Hellendoorn, Eelerberg (Site 400 - first period), V-2 rocket fired, (impact unknown).
21.24 Batt. 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
23.25 Batt. 3./485, (Site 131), V-2 rocket fired (impact unknown). (*JP)
On December 27, 1944, there were only two launches, from Hachenburg, Hillscheid, one at an unknown hour, the other at 15:31.
It is known that the troops of V-2 Battery 444 were located on a stretch of the “Baraque de Friture” roadway east of Samree, Belgium. (War Diary: Batterie 836) sometime after September 5, 1944. Battery 836 was in the “South”, i.e. the South of Germany as opposite to the North, as there was a North Group and a South Group of V-2 units.
On December 29, the launches started at 6:11 a.m.
V-2's launches from Hachenburg, Hillscheid, Hellendoorn, Hoboken and other locations would have been easily visible from a plane flying over the Belgian Ardennes.
In conclusion, the description corresponds to a V-2 launch as seen from an aircraft in flight, and on the date of this observation, there were ample V-2 launches visible from the position of the plane to make it impossible to rule out this explanation.
Probable V-2 rocket launch.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | November 16, 2023 | Creation, [nip1], [tai1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | November 16, 2023 | First published. |
