page_title: Nathan F. Twining
section_title: United States Air Force Chief of Staff
hierarchical_section_title: Nathan F. Twining / United States Air Force Chief of Staff
caption_attribution_description: English: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Nathan F. Twining with Air Force Chief of Staff Thomas D. White and Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas Jr. and Deputy Secretary of Defense Donald A. Quarles at The Pentagon 1957.
context_page_description: Nathan Farragut Twining was a United States Air Force general, born in Monroe, Wisconsin. He was Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1953 until 1957, and 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.
context_section_description: 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 received its own autonomy in 1947.
  General Twining was also an ardent advocate of the Strategic Air Command and strongly believed that Strategic Air Command was the best deterrent to Communist military power. As a result several of new Strategic Air Command bases including the Strategic Air Command underground command center in Strategic Air Command Headquarters was build during General Twining tenure as Air Force Chief of Staff.
  As Air Force Chief of Staff General Twining also achieved the reputation for appeasing the acrimonious controversies which characterized the interservice rivalry during the immediate postwar years and played major role in easing the interservice rivalry. The interservice rivalry had emerged following the end of World War II and the establishment of National Security Act of 1947. One of interservice rivalry major conflict was the "Revolt of the Admirals" in 1949, on which the Truman administration canceled the building of supercarrier USS United States (CVA-58) due to Truman Administration and the Department of Defense more preferred the strategic bomber aircraft Convair B-36 Peacemaker, causing several high-ranking Navy officials to protest against the Truman administration decision to canceled the supercarrier project.
  In 1956, Twining was chosen by Eisenhower to head a delegation of senior officers to visit Soviet Union, the first such exchange since World War II. He was shown by Zhukov at an air force base with Badger and Bison bombers flying overhead.
caption: Twining with Air Force Chief of Staff General Thomas D. White, Secretary of the Air Force James H. Douglas Jr. and Deputy Secretary of Defense Donald A. Quarles at The Pentagon 1957.
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