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Nathan F. Twining
Nathan Farragut Twining (/ˈtwaɪnɪŋ/ TWY-ning; October 11, 1897 – March 29, 1982) was a United States Air Force general. He was the chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1953 until 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.
Twining was the son of Clarence Walker Twining and Maize (Barber) Twining. His family had a strong military background; his brother Merrill B. Twining was a general in the United States Marine Corps, his brother Robert B. Twining attained the rank of captain in the United States Navy, and his uncle Nathan Crook Twining was a rear admiral in the Navy. Twining's stepmother, Frances Staver Twining, was the author of Bird-Watching in the West.
In 1913, Twining moved with his family from Monroe, Wisconsin, to Oswego, Oregon. He was educated in Wisconsin and Oregon, and was a 1917 graduate of Portland, Oregon's Lincoln High School. He served in the Oregon National Guard from 1915 to 1917 and attained the rank of first sergeant. In 1917, he received an appointment to West Point after placing well in a competitive examination for members of the National Guard. Because the program was shortened to produce more officers for World War I, he spent only two years at the academy and graduated in 1919.
After serving in the Army infantry for three years, including post-war occupation duty in Germany, in 1922 Twining was reassigned to the Air Service. Over the next 15 years he flew fighter aircraft in Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii, while also attending the Air Corps Tactical School and the Command and General Staff College. When World War II broke out in Europe he was assigned to the operations division on the Air Staff; then in 1942 he was sent to the South Pacific where he became chief of staff of the Allied air forces in that area.
In January 1943, he was promoted to major general and assumed command of the Thirteenth Air Force, and that same November he traveled across the world to take over the Fifteenth Air Force from Jimmy Doolittle. On February 1, 1943, the U.S. Navy rescued Maj. Gen. Twining, the 13th Air Force Commander, and 14 others near the New Hebrides. They had ditched their plane on the way from Guadalcanal to Espiritu Santo and spent six days in life rafts. After arriving in Europe, he commanded the Fifteenth Air Force as well as the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces during the Combined Bomber Offensive and Oil campaign against the Axis. When Germany surrendered, Arnold sent Twining back to the Pacific to command the B-29s of the Twentieth Air Force in the last push against Japan, however he was in this command only a short time when the atomic strikes ended the war. On October 20, 1945, Twining led three B-29s in developing a new route from Guam to Washington via India and Germany. They completed the 13,167-mile-trip in 59 hours, 30 minutes. He returned to the States where he was named commander of the Air Materiel Command, and in 1947 he took over Alaskan Air Command.
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.'” 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.”
After three years there Twining was set to retire as a lieutenant general, but when Muir Fairchild, the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, died unexpectedly of a heart attack, Twining was elevated to full general and named his successor.
When General Hoyt Vandenberg retired in mid-1953, Twining was selected as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force; during his tenure, massive retaliation based on airpower became the national strategy. During his tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff Twining oversaw massive buildup within the United States Air Force, including the entrance of several jet-fleet aircraft within the Air Force such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and F-100 Super Sabre. Twining also directed the development of missiles system within the Air Force. For his role and achievement in developing the Air Force, 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 that the Air Force used during the World War II and during the early years of the Air Force following the Air Force receiving its own autonomy in 1947.
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Nathan F. Twining
Nathan Farragut Twining (/ˈtwaɪnɪŋ/ TWY-ning; October 11, 1897 – March 29, 1982) was a United States Air Force general. He was the chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1953 until 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.
Twining was the son of Clarence Walker Twining and Maize (Barber) Twining. His family had a strong military background; his brother Merrill B. Twining was a general in the United States Marine Corps, his brother Robert B. Twining attained the rank of captain in the United States Navy, and his uncle Nathan Crook Twining was a rear admiral in the Navy. Twining's stepmother, Frances Staver Twining, was the author of Bird-Watching in the West.
In 1913, Twining moved with his family from Monroe, Wisconsin, to Oswego, Oregon. He was educated in Wisconsin and Oregon, and was a 1917 graduate of Portland, Oregon's Lincoln High School. He served in the Oregon National Guard from 1915 to 1917 and attained the rank of first sergeant. In 1917, he received an appointment to West Point after placing well in a competitive examination for members of the National Guard. Because the program was shortened to produce more officers for World War I, he spent only two years at the academy and graduated in 1919.
After serving in the Army infantry for three years, including post-war occupation duty in Germany, in 1922 Twining was reassigned to the Air Service. Over the next 15 years he flew fighter aircraft in Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii, while also attending the Air Corps Tactical School and the Command and General Staff College. When World War II broke out in Europe he was assigned to the operations division on the Air Staff; then in 1942 he was sent to the South Pacific where he became chief of staff of the Allied air forces in that area.
In January 1943, he was promoted to major general and assumed command of the Thirteenth Air Force, and that same November he traveled across the world to take over the Fifteenth Air Force from Jimmy Doolittle. On February 1, 1943, the U.S. Navy rescued Maj. Gen. Twining, the 13th Air Force Commander, and 14 others near the New Hebrides. They had ditched their plane on the way from Guadalcanal to Espiritu Santo and spent six days in life rafts. After arriving in Europe, he commanded the Fifteenth Air Force as well as the Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces during the Combined Bomber Offensive and Oil campaign against the Axis. When Germany surrendered, Arnold sent Twining back to the Pacific to command the B-29s of the Twentieth Air Force in the last push against Japan, however he was in this command only a short time when the atomic strikes ended the war. On October 20, 1945, Twining led three B-29s in developing a new route from Guam to Washington via India and Germany. They completed the 13,167-mile-trip in 59 hours, 30 minutes. He returned to the States where he was named commander of the Air Materiel Command, and in 1947 he took over Alaskan Air Command.
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.'” 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.”
After three years there Twining was set to retire as a lieutenant general, but when Muir Fairchild, the Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, died unexpectedly of a heart attack, Twining was elevated to full general and named his successor.
When General Hoyt Vandenberg retired in mid-1953, Twining was selected as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force; during his tenure, massive retaliation based on airpower became the national strategy. During his tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff Twining oversaw massive buildup within the United States Air Force, including the entrance of several jet-fleet aircraft within the Air Force such as the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker and F-100 Super Sabre. Twining also directed the development of missiles system within the Air Force. For his role and achievement in developing the Air Force, 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 that the Air Force used during the World War II and during the early years of the Air Force following the Air Force receiving its own autonomy in 1947.
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