★Historically significant

This package contains the original Twining Memorandum signed by Lieutenant General N.F. Twining on 23 September 1947, the first formal senior-military-command assessment concluding flying discs are real, combined with the 30 December 1947 Craigie directive formally establishing Project Sign, and Curtis LeMay's signed confirmation that no U.S. research project matches the described characteristics.

18_100754_ General 1946-7_Vol_2

Department of WarPDFAnalysisSECRETNo redactionsPURSUE Release 1

9/10

major disclosure or historic

UAP Insight significance score

Incident date: 12/30/47
Witnesses: Multiple witnesses
Released: May 8, 2026

UAP Characteristics

◉ DiscErratic movementHigh-G maneuverSilent flightHypersonic speed

Evidence Types

TestimonyPhotos

Government Programs Referenced

Project Sign

Official Conclusion

The phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious; objects probably approximate the shape of a disc and exhibit extreme rates of climb and maneuverability; origin undetermined pending further investigation.

Official Description

This file contains memorandums and correspondence related to flying disc/saucer sightings and that those are a matter of concern for the Air Materiel Command.

Key Findings

→Lieutenant General N.F. Twining's 23 September 1947 memorandum formally concluded that the flying disc phenomenon 'is something real and not visionary or fictitious,' describing objects approximately disc-shaped, metallic or light-reflecting, flying at speeds above 300 knots, with extreme maneuverability including evasive action when contacted by friendly aircraft or radar.
→On 30 December 1947, Major General L.C. Craigie directed AMC to establish a formal project to collect, collate, evaluate, and distribute information on atmospheric sightings of national security concern, assigned Priority 2A with 'Restricted' security classification and the code name 'Sign.'
→Colonel Robert Taylor's August 1947 routing sheet formally asked the Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research and Development to confirm whether any classified U.S. research project matched the flying saucer description; Major General Curtis E. LeMay responded on 29 August 1947 that 'The Army Air Forces has no research project with the characteristics described.'
→Photographs submitted by civilian Mary L. Herren from Portland, Oregon — allegedly taken November 1946 near Jefferson, Oregon — were assessed by HQ USAF intelligence as likely film or camera defects rather than flying discs, and no further investigation was requested.
→AMC intelligence considered three possible origins for the objects: domestic high-security project unknown to AC/AS-2, foreign nation with nuclear propulsion capability, or natural phenomena; the lack of physical crash-recovered evidence was explicitly noted as a limitation.

UAP Insight Analysis— AI generated, not official

This multi-document package contains a collection of classified memoranda and correspondence from 1947 between the Air Materiel Command (AMC), Army Air Forces (AAF), and related intelligence offices concerning 'Flying Discs' and 'Flying Saucers.' The centerpiece is the famous Twining Memorandum of 23 September 1947, in which Lieutenant General N.F. Twining formally assessed that the flying disc phenomenon is real, not visionary, and recommended establishment of a formal study project. Additional documents include follow-up memos, a photograph debunking case, and early organizational steps toward what became Project Sign.

Analyst Notes

This is an analytical assessment based on aggregated witness reports with no sensor corroboration documented in these pages; Twining explicitly acknowledged the lack of physical evidence. One photograph case was dismissed as film defects. The Mrs. Merchant theory (Russian launch from Mexico) was assessed as unworthy of further investigation. The documents represent official conclusions drawn from secondary witness interrogation data, not direct observation by the signatories.

Extracted Entities

People

Lieutenant General N.F. TwiningMajor General L.C. CraigieBrigadier General George SchulgenMajor General George McDonaldLieutenant Colonel George Garrett, Jr.Colonel H.M. McCoyLieutenant Colonel Douglass W. EisemanColonel Robert Taylor 3rdMajor General Curtis E. LeMayColonel Howard G. BunkerLieutenant Colonel Herbert C. GeeColonel Donald L. SpringerColonel W.R. ClingemanDr. Charles CarrollMr. A.C. Loedding

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AI analysis by claude-sonnet-4-6 · May 20, 2026