Roswell Material Analysis 1947

In early July 1947, material recovered from the Foster Ranch near Roswell, New Mexico was transported under armed escort to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio — home of the USAAF's Foreign Technology Division and the nation's premier aerospace analysis capability. Multiple individuals with clearances who were present described materials with properties unknown to science at the time: metal foil that when crumpled immediately returned to its original shape, structural members of extraordinary strength with very low weight, and small beams or rods with inscriptions in an unknown script. General Nathan Twining, commanding general of Air Materiel Command, visited Wright Field in late July and inspected the recovered material. His September 23, 1947 memorandum to Brig. General George Schulgen — partially declassified — stated that 'flying saucers' were 'real and not visionary or fictitious' and recommended establishing a formal study. Researchers have argued that Twining's memo reflected his direct knowledge from the Wright Field material analysis rather than only the growing wave of civilian sightings.