Nathan F. Twining

**Nathan Farragut Twining** (October 11, 1897 – March 29, 1982) was a United States Air Force general. General Twining was credited for leading the U.S. Air Force into a modern-day Air Force with far more sophisticated equipment, rather than the old equipment the Air Force had been using during World War II.

## Roswell

*Events during Roswell (1947 to 1952)*

By 1947 Lieutenant General Twining was named commander of the Air Materiel Command and took over Alaskan Air Command.

On September 23, 1947, Twining issued a memo to Brigadier General George Schulgen of the Army Air Forces, regarding “AMC Opinion Concerning 'Flying Discs.'” The memo indicates that unidentified objects seen in the skies by military personnel were not weather, astronomical or other phenomenon but rather objects that warranted further investigation. Twining wrote “The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious.”

Since the establishment of the National Security Act of 1947, an interservice rivalry was developing which led to the "Revolt of the Admirals" in 1949.

When Muir Fairchild, the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, died unexpectedly of a heart attack in March 1950, Twining was elevated to full general and named his successor.

## Area-51

*The time period of Area-51 operations parallel MKUltra ops by the CIA (1953-XXXX)*

When General Hoyt Vandenberg retired in mid-1953, Twining was selected as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force. Twining was chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force from 1953 to 1957, and the third chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1957 to 1960. He was the first member of the Air Force to serve as Chairman. Twining was a distinguished "mustang" officer, rising from private to four-star general and appointment to the highest post in the United States Armed Forces in the course of his 45-year career.

General Twining was an ardent advocate of the Strategic Air Command and strongly believed that SAC was the best deterrent to Communist military power. As a result, several of new SAC bases including SAC underground command center in Strategic Air Command Headquarters was built during General Twining's tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff.

In 1956, Twining was chosen by Eisenhower to head a delegation of senior officers to visit Soviet Union, the first such exchange since World War II.

In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Twining Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Twining oversaw the early stage of the Space Race to boost the space program, in response to the launching of a Soviet IBM on 25 August 1957.

In 1958 when the Iraqi's insurgent managed to topple the Iraqi's monarchy government, it caused neighboring Lebanon to be concerned that the uprising might spread within the Lebanese area. General Twining advised President Eisenhower to deploy troops to Lebanon in order to secure the Lebanese government of President Camille Chamoun from uprising.

During the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis, General Twining advised President Eisenhower to use whatever force necessary in order to protect the Island of Taiwan from PRC forces. This resulted in the deployment of United States Seventh Fleet and another two carriers from the Mediterranean including USS Lexington and USS Marshall to the Formosa strait. Several of the U.S. Air Force fighter aircraft also deployed to Taiwan.

## References

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan\_F.\_Twining