27 November 1944–23/24 April 1945; a unit summary also mentions late October / T028
The 415th Night Fighter Squadron's foo fighters
Rhine valley, Alsace, and southwestern Germany
Witness account
The 415th's records describe red, orange, green, or white lights seen during night missions. Examples include a red light on 27 November, a group near Rastatt on 18 December, and lights near Haguenau during 22–23 December. Later mission reports continue into April 1945. The observations should be retained as multiple incidents, rather than blended into a single idealized encounter.
Public record
Researcher Barry Greenwood located unit records and published transcriptions with microfilm references, reproduced by Project 1947. The unit summary dates an initial event to late October, while the first detailed diary entry is 27 November. Some entries report apparent following behavior; others explicitly record radar failure or no ground-radar contact. The records differ in detail from later magazine retellings.