Project Twinkle final report
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“Project TWINKLE - pt. of Proj. GRUDGE ... Project Twinkle. Study of fireballs in southwestern U.S. This project is part of Project Grudge.”
THIS IS AN ARCHIVIST'S HANDWRITING ON A FOLDER, NOT A STATEMENT BY THE AIR FORCE. It matters because AARO's 2024 report says at printed 15 that "The literature is not clear if Project TWINKLE was officially supported by the original Project GRUDGE." The folder the Air Force filed it in says it was part of Grudge. A cataloguer's note is weaker evidence than a report, and it is still evidence, and the two do not agree.
“In view of the unproductive nature of the contract with Land-Air, it was decided to make further inquiry concerning recent aerial object developments in New Mexico. On 9 August 1951, the situation was discussed with Lt. Col. Cox of the 17th OSI District (Kirtland AFB). ... Colonel Cox advised that reports of strange aerial phenomena were still received by the 17th OSI office, at the rate of once or twice a month but little attention was being given to this matter. Most of the reports originated from personnel at Los Alamos.”
THE CONTRACT IS DESCRIBED BY THE AIR FORCE AS "unproductive". The same page records that representatives of LIFE and ARGOSY were seeking to publish articles on the subject - a 1951 government file noting press interest in what it was failing to photograph.
“Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of the planet Pluto and now engaged in activities at White Sands, never observed an unexplainable aerial object despite his continuous and extensive observations of the sky; that Fred Whipple in his work photographing meteors at Las Cruces, never detected a strange aerial object with his Schmidt cameras; and that the A and M College at Las Cruces engages in astronomical observations but had never observed strange aerial phenomena.”
A NAMED ABSENCE, WHICH IS A KIND OF EVIDENCE THIS PROJECT SHOULD RECORD MORE OFTEN. The professional sky-watchers nearest the green fireballs saw nothing they could not explain. Note the chain of custody on the claim: this is Mr. B. Guildenberg reporting what Tombaugh and Whipple told him, written into a file by a third party. It is hearsay in a government document, not testimony.
“It was learned from Major Doty, that Col. Baynes, C. O. at HAFB, no longer felt there was any justification for the allocation of funds for maintaining systematic investigation. Rather, he provided that the project be maintained on a standby basis and without official Air Force status.”
HOW IT ENDED: not cancelled, but kept alive "without official Air Force status" - one officer collecting reports, no funds, no formal standing. That is the shape of a great many things in this map, and it is worth having a document that says it in so many words. It also bears on AARO's uncertainty about Twinkle's official status: by November 1951 the project itself records that it had none.
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What this document is used for
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