Bill Holman

Bill Holman (1903-1987) was an American cartoonist renowned for creating the comic strip Smokey Stover, which ran from 1935 to 1972 and was syndicated through the Chicago Tribune. Born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago and worked for the New York Herald Tribune. His strip featured the nonsensical word 'foo,' used in puns and gags. This term was adopted by U.S. Army Air Forces radar operator Donald J. Meiers of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron in 1944. Meiers, a Chicago native and avid reader of Smokey Stover, named unexplained glowing aerial phenomena encountered over Europe during World War II as 'foo fighters.' Initially called 'fuckin' foo fighters,' the term stuck after confirmation by intelligence officer Fritz Ringwald. Thus, Holman indirectly contributed to UFO terminology, as 'foo fighters' became synonymous with early UAP sightings reported by pilots, influencing ufology without his direct involvement in research or military programs.