The Flaming Onions of World War One

During the latter years of World War One, pilots on both sides of the conflict reported encountering strange aerial phenomena they called “Flaming Onions.” These glowing objects, often described as green-hued balls, moved in twisted patterns and appeared to pursue aircraft. While some attributed them to German anti-aircraft weapons, pilots noted behavior suggesting intelligent control beyond any conventional explanation. The phenomenon is considered a precursor to the “Foo Fighters” reported during World War Two.

The Phenomenon

What Pilots Saw

Typical observations:

• Glowing balls of light
• Green or greenish hue
• Moved in twisted patterns
• “Turning over end on end”
• “Leisurely” rotation
• Appeared to chase aircraft

Behavioral Characteristics

The objects displayed:

• Apparent intelligent control
• Pursuit of aircraft
• Coordinated movement
• Not ballistic trajectory
• Responsive to aircraft actions
• Sustained observation periods

Witness Accounts

British Pilots

Multiple aviators reported:

• Objects following aircraft
• Unable to evade pursuit
• No damage despite proximity
• Objects eventually departing
• Consistent descriptions

Lieutenant R.S. Maxwell

Detailed account:

• Flying BE2C fighter
• Time: Around 8:25 PM
• Altitude: 10,000 feet
• Engine irregularities experienced
• “Distinctly saw an artificial light”
• Positioned to the north
• Same approximate height

The Chase

Maxwell’s pursuit:

• Followed northeast
• Duration: Nearly 20 minutes
• Light maintained distance
• “Slightly higher and just as quickly”
• Eventually disappeared into clouds
• Unable to close gap

Official Explanations

German Anti-Aircraft

The conventional theory:

• Five-barreled anti-aircraft guns
• Called “Lichtspucker” (light-spitter)
• Produced glowing projectiles
• Known to create unusual patterns

Problems with Theory

Why it didn’t fully explain:

• Objects showed apparent intelligence
• Pursuit behavior unexpected
• Duration too long for shells
• No explosions or detonations
• Objects seemed controlled

Comparison to Foo Fighters

Similarities

Shared characteristics:

• Glowing balls of light
• Pursuit of military aircraft
• No hostile action
• Unexplained behavior
• Multiple witness reports
• Both sides experiencing

Pattern Recognition

The connection:

• WWI Flaming Onions
• WWII Foo Fighters
• Same basic phenomenon?
• Decades apart
• Same warzone areas (Europe)
• Same types of witnesses (pilots)

The War Context

Aerial Combat

The setting:

• Intense dogfighting
• New technology of warfare
• Pilots highly stressed
• Yet trained observers
• Multiple independent reports

No Hostile Action

Notable absence:

• Objects never attacked
• No pilots downed by phenomena
• Observation only
• Surveillance behavior?
• Purpose unknown

Theories

Conventional Explanations

What skeptics suggested:

• Anti-aircraft fire
• Flares
• Atmospheric phenomena
• Pilot hallucinations
• Misidentified conventional objects

Unconventional Possibilities

What researchers consider:

• Unknown natural phenomenon
• Ball lightning variation
• Genuine UAP presence
• Monitoring of new technology
• Non-human observation

Historical Significance

First Wartime UAP

The Flaming Onions represent:

• First documented wartime aerial anomalies
• Multiple trained observers
• Both Allied and German witnesses
• Pattern that would repeat
• Precursor to WWII phenomena

Aviation Witnesses

Pilot testimony matters:

• Trained observers
• Experienced in aerial phenomena
• Could identify conventional objects
• Reliable assessments
• Official reports filed

The Question

In the skies over the Western Front, something was watching.

Pilots on both sides saw them - glowing green balls that moved like nothing they knew. Not shells arcing and falling. Not flares drifting down. Something that turned “end over end in a leisurely way” and followed aircraft.

They called them Flaming Onions.

Some said they were German anti-aircraft fire - a new weapon called the Lichtspucker. But the behavior didn’t match. Shells don’t chase planes for twenty minutes. Shells don’t keep pace with fighters. Shells don’t disappear into clouds when pursuit becomes too determined.

The Flaming Onions acted with intelligence.

They observed.

They followed.

They never attacked.

Lieutenant Maxwell chased one for twenty minutes over the Western Front. It stayed just ahead - “slightly higher and just as quickly” - always out of reach, always visible, until it simply vanished.

What was it watching?

Twenty-five years later, during World War Two, pilots would report the same thing. They called them Foo Fighters. Same glowing balls. Same pursuit behavior. Same mystery.

Something was interested in human aviation.

Something was there at the birth of aerial warfare.

Something is still there now, if the reports are to be believed.

The Flaming Onions of World War One.

The first documented wartime UFOs.

Glowing, rotating, pursuing.

Never attacking.

Always watching.

And still unexplained.

More than a century later, we still don’t know what the pilots of the Great War saw in those torn skies over France.

We only know they saw something.

Something that followed them.

Something that watched.

Something that vanished.

And something that would return, again and again, whenever humans took to the sky in war.