Zimmerman 1947 Sep 12

```
.
.
.
                         WAR DEPARTMENT
                   WAR DEPARTMENT GENERAL STAFF
                  Plans 6 : OPERATIONS DIVISION
                       WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

                                                      12 September 1947

Lt. General Twining
Commanding General
Air Materiel Command
Wright Field, Ohio

Dear General Twining:

   On behalf of the Advanced Study Group I wish to thank you and your
staff for the considerable time and effort devoted to us during our vi¬
sit to the Air Materiel Command last week. Everyone we contacted was
most cooperative and did his best to help us in accomplishing our mission
during the short time available.  Our original schedule called for two
days; we soon extended it to three, but quickly found that our interests
could and should be absorbed for a much longer period than that. We hope
that it may be our privilege to continue the visit in the not too distant
future.

   We particularly valued our discussion with you and were sorry that
we did not see you again before we left. Our talk with General Chidlaw
was most interesting and he gave us plenty to think about.

   The major portion of our time during the succeeding two and one-
half days was spent in the Engineering Division. made a short visit
to T-2 on Friday afternoon. We were unable to visit several activities
that we should have visited such as the Aircraft Laboratory, the T-4 Di¬
vision, the T-5 Division, and the All Weather Project at Clinton.

   Our initial conference in the Engineering Division was with General
Crawford, General Putt, Colonel Maier, Colonel Davis and Colonel Wold.
This fruitful conference provided a background for a visit with the En¬
gineering Division laboratories. We first went to the Power Plant lab
where Colonel Minty and Colonel O'Keefe ably presented the facts of life
about power plants and then showed us some of the work being done. The
functioning of a ram-jet engine was very impressive.

   Colonel Jarmon made a very clear presentation of the armament pic¬
ture. Colonel Davis gave a most instructive talk on some aspects of cel¬
estial navigation.

   General Rives and his staff, particularly Mr. Keto, reviewed the ac¬
tivities of the Electronics Lab and were most helpful in indicating future
trends. The presentation was well organized and General Rives, with his
staff, was most helpful in answering any questions that we had to ask.
.
.
.

```

```
.
.
.
   Our Group was amazed at the magnitude and variety of projects carried
on in the Equipment Division under Colonel Dent. Although he covered a
vast amount of ground and had generated many ideas, we knew that he still
had many projects and ideas that he had been unable to mention. He suggested
that we go with him on his visit to Alaska next January in order to get a
better appreciation of Arctic problems. We are seriously considering ac¬
cepting this offer.

   The Display Room in the Aircraft Projects laboratory was most helpful.
During our talk with Colonel Smith he gave us many important concepts which
would have been difficult to get anywhere else. We appreciated the proxi¬
mity of the guided missiles display and during our talk with Lt. Col. Ross
we were able to readily compare, in a general way, airplanes and guided
missiles. Col. Ross exhibited thorough knowledge of his field and was most
helpful in clarifying our minds.

   We had a brief though intensely interesting talk with Col. McCoy. We
were most impressed with his outline of the T-2 organization, the work that
his division is undertaking, and the enthusiasm with which he is tackling
his job. It was most gratifying to find real progress on the critical mat¬
ter of intelligence.

   Major Zabriskie was much more than an efficient escort. His over-all
knowledge helped greatly in tying various activities together.

   Again, may I say, we were only able to scratch the surface on many
matters of interest to us within your command and many others were not
touched upon at all. We fully realize that much more time will be required
before our level of information will approach that which we hope to have.
We enjoyed our visit thoroughly, found it to be of great value, and were
most pleased with the way we were treated.

Please accept our best regards.

                                     Sincerely yours,

                                     [Signed]
                                     DON Z. ZIMMERMAN
                                     Colonel, GSC
                                     Chief, Advanced Study Group
.
.
.

```