The Twining flying discs letter
On 23 September 1947 General Nathan Twining wrote to the Army Air Forces that the objects were real.
On 23 September 1947 Nathan F. Twining, a lieutenant general at the Air Material Command, signed a letter giving the AMC's opinion on the so-called flying discs. He wrote it for Brigadier General George Schulgen, who had asked for help understanding the reports of flying discs, and sent it to the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces.
The letter's striking point was its conclusion: the phenomenon, Twining wrote, was real, neither visionary nor fictitious. His memo held that unidentified objects seen overhead by service personnel were something other than weather, astronomy or other known causes, and deserved further investigation. The letter documents what the Air Material Command thought at that date. It leaves open what the discs were and concedes their origin was unknown.
"On September 23, 1947, Lieutenant General Twining issued a memo to Brigadier General George F. Schulgen of the Army Air Forces. The subject line of the memo read “AMC Opinion Concerning 'Flying Discs.[14]'” The general tone of the memo was 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.”"
- General Nathan F. Twining and the Flying Disc Problem of 1947, Skeptical Inquirer
- 1947 Gen. Twining Letter (text of AMC Opinion Concerning "Flying Discs"), NICAP archive
- History of the USAF UFO Programs: The Public and the Press, Society for Ufology History / sohp.us