Twining Memo: The UAP Formations Pattern Described in 1947 Is Still in Pentagon Reports

In September 1947, Lieutenant General Nathan F. Twining signed a classified memorandum confirming that the "flying discs" reported by military personnel were real, noting their distinct tendency to travel in coordinated groups. Decades later, official United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) mission reports and sensor videos continue to document unidentified aerial phenomena operating in unison, revealing a persistent observational pattern across seventy-five years of military archives.

The Twining Memorandum (September 1947)

The foundational document for military UFO research is a September 23, 1947, memorandum from Lieutenant General N. F. Twining, then commanding the Air Materiel Command (AMC) at Wright Field. Responding to a request from the Army Air Forces for an opinion on "Flying Discs," Twining's staff concluded that "the phenomenon reported is something real and not visionary or fictitious" (85d659d6b2208610).

In outlining the common characteristics of the objects, the AMC noted their "metallic or light reflecting surface" and estimated their level flight speeds to be "normally above 300 knots" (85d659d6b2208610). Crucially, the memorandum highlighted the objects' collective behavior, citing "several reports of well kept formation flights varying from three to nine objects" (85d659d6b2208610). The document also recorded that the objects demonstrated maneuverability and "action which must be considered evasive when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar" (85d659d6b2208610).

Independent Consolidation in 1947

Twining's assessment was not an isolated conclusion. A month prior, on August 22, 1947, Colonel Robert Taylor 3rd of the Air Intelligence Requirements Division drafted a Routing and Record Sheet summarizing the "Flying Saucer Phenomena." This document, preserved alongside the Twining memo, sought assurance that the objects were not a secret domestic project.

Taylor's summary perfectly mirrors Twining's later conclusions. He noted that the objects were circular or elliptical, metallic, and that "flights have been reported containing from three to nine objects, flying good formation on each other, with speeds always above 300 knots" (85d659d6b2208610). Furthermore, Taylor recorded a specific flight dynamic, stating that the discs "oscillate laterally while flying along, which could be snaking" (85d659d6b2208610). These early intelligence summaries established "formation flight" as a primary phenomenological identifier, while FBI case files from the same period actively tracked the individual Army Air Forces sighting reports pouring in from pilots and military personnel (6446322736ff9703).

Sightings Over Los Alamos and the Pacific Northwest (1948-1949)

The pattern of coordinated flight continued to appear in official reports through the late 1940s and early 1950s. In a correspondence file regarding incidents at the Los Alamos nuclear facility, a witness recounted an event from the 1948–1951 timeframe, noting "one instance of five objects flying over Los Alamos in the afternoon. They were flying from Southeast to Northwest and appeared to be flying in formation" (324a9795356cc793).

By 1949, Air Force Flight Service Centers were logging similar events. On July 26, 1949, a commercial pilot over Spokane, Washington, reported a formation of "eight" objects that were "dish shaped" and "larger than a B-29" traveling "much faster than a B-29" (707639e26003ce0c).

Weeks later, on August 8, 1949, multiple military and civilian air traffic personnel in Medford, Oregon, observed a group "varying from one (1) to seven (7)" objects. Using theodolites and binoculars, the operators noted that "the objects would fly formation for a while and then break off and reform in a trail formation" (707639e26003ce0c).

Modern MISREPs: "Formation of UNK Flying Objects" (2020)

Seventy-three years after the Twining memo, the exact same behavioral pattern appears in modern combat theater documentation. An August 2020 USCENTCOM Mission Report (MISREP) details a 21-hour Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) flight over the Arabian Gulf.

According to the declassified narrative, at 15:27Z, the sensor operators "OBSERVED A FORMATION OF FLYING OBJECTS TRAVELING NE-NW ALONG THE COAST" (4ce20fc566edf4a3). The official activity description in the MISREP is logged explicitly as "FORMATION OF UNK FLYING OBJECTS" (4ce20fc566edf4a3). The crew attempted to maintain a visual on the group, recording that the platform "WAS TRACKING THIS FORMATION FOR APPROXIMATELY 2 MINUTES BEFORE PID WAS LOST IN CLOUD COVER" (4ce20fc566edf4a3).

The 2022-2023 Incidents: Iran and FL600+

The archive contains further recent evidence of this phenomenon in the Middle East. A video file uploaded to a classified network in June 2024, titled "4 UAP Formation Iran 26 Aug 2022 over water CALLSIGN," captures infrared sensor footage of "four areas of contrast" transiting the sensor field-of-view in unison (vid-1007706).

Months later, during a March 2023 Operation Inherent Resolve mission, an F-16CM flight equipped with advanced avionics—including a Sniper Targeting Pod and an ALR-56M Radar Warning Receiver—encountered a massive group of objects. The MISREP logs the number of UAP sighted as "POSS 10X-20X" operating at an extreme altitude of "FL600+" (above 60,000 feet) (71ca8826db94d615).

The F-16 pilot attempted to lock onto the objects using the targeting pod in TV mode, noting that they would appear for approximately 20 seconds before becoming dim and disappearing. To ensure it was not a sensor anomaly, the pilot "COMPARED TARGETING POD BETWEEN POSS UAP AND STAR. RESULTS WERE DIFFERENT" (71ca8826db94d615). Crucially, the reporting officer added a specific caveat to this encounter: "NONE OF THE OBJECTS WERE SEEN IN ANY FORMATIONS AS PREVIOUSLY SEEN IN PRIOR SORTIES" (71ca8826db94d615). This phrasing inadvertently confirms that UAP formations were a known, previously established baseline for pilots operating in that theater.

The Archival Bridge

The presence of formations is one of the most significant details in the UAP documentary record. While a single anomalous light can often be attributed to sensor artifacts, weather balloons, or celestial bodies, a coordinated formation of multiple objects maintaining relative distance and speed requires complex flight dynamics.

The modern drone operators and fighter pilots filing MISREPs in 2020 and 2023 were not referencing a 1947 Air Materiel Command memorandum. Yet, separated by more than seven decades and vast leaps in sensor technology, the military observers reached for the exact same terminology—"formation"—to describe what they were tracking. UAP Archives provides the unique ability to bridge these eras, demonstrating that the pattern General Twining documented in 1947 remains an active, unresolved operational reality in the 21st century.

What the document does not say

To maintain strict adherence to the archival record, it is necessary to clarify what these documents do not contain:

• None of the cited documents, from 1947 to 2023, identify the origin, manufacturer, or nature of the objects flying in formation.
• The documents do not attribute these formations to extraterrestrial intelligence or foreign adversaries.
• The 1947 memos do not claim that any physical evidence or crashed vehicles were recovered to prove the existence of the formations.
• The modern USCENTCOM MISREPs do not state that the UAP formations exhibited hostile intent or engaged the observing aircraft.

Read it yourself

Explore the original declassified documents cited in this report:

• 85d659d6b2208610 (Twining Memo and Col. Taylor Memo, 1947)
• FBI Case File 62-83894 (FBI Collection of AAF Reports, 1947)
• A-83-001 Series File (Los Alamos Sighting Correspondence)
• USAF UFO Sighting Reports (Spokane and Medford Sightings, 1949)
• USCENTCOM Mission Report (MISREP) (Arabian Gulf Formation, 2020)
• USCENTCOM declassified mission report (MDR 25-0094 series) (F-16CM Flight, 2023)
• DOW-UAP-PR050, "4 UAP Formation Iran 26 Aug 2022 over water CALLSIGN" (Sensor Video Description, 2022)