Nathan Twining
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 👤 Person
Contents 6
| Type | Person |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Twining, Gen. Nathan Twining, Lt. Gen. Nathan Twining |
| On the Timeline | 3 events, 1947–1948 |
Nathan Farragut Twining (11 October 1897 – 29 March 1982) was a U.S. Air Force general who served as Air Force Chief of Staff (1953–1957) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1957–1960). In UFO history he is known for his memo of 23 September 1947, written as commander of Air Materiel Command, which stated that the reported flying discs were "something real and not visionary or fictitious" and led to the creation of Project Sign.[1][2]
Early career and World War II
Twining was born in Monroe, Wisconsin, served in the Oregon National Guard from 1915, and graduated from West Point in 1919 in a class shortened by World War I. He moved to the Air Service in 1922. In World War II he was chief of staff of Allied air forces in the South Pacific, commanded the Thirteenth Air Force from January 1943, took over the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy in November 1943, and at the end of the war commanded the B-29s of the Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific, which carried out the atomic bombings of Japan.[1][3]
The 1947 memo
After the war Twining commanded Air Materiel Command at Wright Field in Ohio, the Air Force's research and engineering centre. During the 1947 flying saucer wave, Brig. Gen. George Schulgen of Air Force intelligence asked for its opinion. Twining's reply, headed "AMC Opinion Concerning 'Flying Discs'", said the phenomenon was real, described features such as extreme rates of climb and manoeuvrability, considered the possibility of a domestic secret project or foreign development, and recommended a formal study with priority and security classification. This led to Project Sign in early 1948.[1][2][4]
Later career
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Twining commanded Alaskan Air Command from 1947, became Vice Chief of Staff, and succeeded Hoyt Vandenberg as Air Force Chief of Staff in 1953. In 1957 he became the third Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the first from the Air Force, serving two terms before retiring for health reasons on 30 September 1960. He died in 1982 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[1][3][5]
In UFO lore
The Majestic 12 documents, which most researchers consider forgeries, name Twining as a member of the alleged secret committee on crashed saucers.[6]
On the UAP Timeline
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- Twining memo (1947) (23 September 1947) — Gen. Nathan Twining writes that the flying discs are real and could be a secret U.S. or Soviet project.
- Hillenkoetter letter of 24 September 1947 (24 September 1947) — A letter attributed to the CIA director allegedly names Air Force and Navy intelligence units as leads on recovered objects.
- Research and Development Board dismisses the discs (1948) (31 January 1948) — A Pentagon research board publicly dismisses flying saucers as mirages and mass self-hypnosis.
References
- Nathan F. Twining — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- "General Nathan F. Twining and the Flying Disc Problem of 1947", Skeptical Inquirer (2020) · skepticalinquirer.org · archived copy
- "General Nathan F. Twining", U.S. Air Force biography · af.mil · archived copy
- "The Twining letter" (23 Sep 1947) — Roswell Files · roswellfiles.com · archived copy
- "General Nathan Farragut Twining", Joint Chiefs of Staff · jcs.mil · archived copy
- Majestic 12 — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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