Monday that FBI agents had been called in by the army to assist them in investigating cause of the crash.
“The army and the FBI are going to get to the bottom of this,” Sanders said. “It’s the biggest hoax ever perpetrated, and it’s not funny. Two army officers lost their lives as an indirect result of this fraud.” Sanders declined to name the person or persons responsible for the hoax, but added quickly that the army was confident both Arnold and Smith “acted in good faith and were in the clear.”
He also indicated investigators were closing in on the mysterious telephone caller who touched off the latest wave of saucer speculation by naming Capt. William L. Davidson, San Francisco, and 1st Lt. Frank M. Brown, Vallejo, Cal., hours before the army announced they had been killed in the B-25 crash.
Sanders said he did not know whether there would be prosecution as a result of the hoax, which he admitted, deceived the army.
CENTERED ON PLANE
Attention had been centered on the plane since The Tacoma Times first reported last Saturday that a telephone message had been received from an anonymous tipster claiming the plane was carrying disc fragments and that it either had been “sabotaged” or “shot down.”
Brig. –Gen. Ned Schramm, chief of staff of the Fourth air force at San Francisco, at first denied there were disc fragments aboard, but later admitted that Capt. William L. Davison and First. Lt. Frank M. Brown, the dead fliers, had been dispatched to Tacoma to interview Kenneth Arnold, Boise business man-flier, and Capt. Emil Smith. United Airlines pilot who are considered to be the most reliable observers of the flying discs.
CONFIRMS REPORT Later it was admitted by Brig. Gen Schramm that “classified material” pertaining to discs was being carried back to headquarters by the two intelligence officers at the time of the crash. Capt. Smith, interviewed at a home on Lake Washington, revealed that all facts about their investigation in Tacoma had been turned over to army intelligence. He refused to answer further questions. Since that time, a military “cloak of secrecy” has been thrown around the case. A fragment of fused rock. Thought to be smelter slag, was being analyzed Tuesday after it was learned a specimen had been examined by Arnold and Smith as a possible flying saucer fragment. The Black material was picked up by two Tacoma businessmen in a gravel pit on Maury Island.
Smith denied turning any of these fragments over to the army, however. Material, or data, aboard the plane is believed by The Times to have come from another source.
For the FBI, E.J. Smith gave a disposition at the City-County building in Seattle. In it, he mentioned the names of the others on board Dahl’s boat at the time of the incident. In Covington’s copy of the disposition, the names are redacted out. - Covington
Theories
Numerous theories have been offered. One theory is that Crisman was covering up illegal slag dumping having been familiar with transport planes through Boeing and wanted to make some money off of the scrap metal having just been laid off from the Veterans service.
Note: “Crisman stated that Dahl is crooked. - that Dahl was rumored to be a black market operator during the war but there was nothing concrete. FBI Report, 1947
John Keel’s Theory
From Keel, John“The Maury Island Caper” UFOs 1947-1987: The 40-Year Search for an Explanation. ForteanTomes, London, 1987. p.42
“The truth is frustratingly simple. In 1947, the Atomic Energy Commission’s (AEC) huge metallurgical plant at Hanford, WA was processing plutonium and creating vast quantities of radioactive waste. Getting rid of this material was already a major problem and one method was to load it into cargo planes and dump it unceremoniously into various large bodies of water…such as Puget Sound and Tacoma harbor. Dahl happened to be an unwitting witness to one of these dumping operations. When newspaperman Paul Lance (Lantz) visited Maury Island a few weeks later, he found a high chain fence had been erected around the slag piles and there was a sign: PROPERTY OF U.S. GOVERNMENT .KEEP OUT
Apparently, a group of cargo planes was heading north-west from Hanford to a dumping ground in the Pacific when one of the aircraft developed serious trouble. It unceremoniously dumped its ugly cargo into Tacoma harbor and onto Maury Island, and then returned to Hanford. Dahl and his crew were seen from the air and photographed. It was easy for AEC security officers to check with the hospital later and track Dahl down. The Man-in-Black who visited Dahl was actually an agent for the AEC intent on covering up what was even then an illegal dumping of dangerous atomic waste.”
“Everyone was under suspicion. Hotel rooms in Tacoma and Seattle were wired. Telephones were widely trapped. This accounted for Arnold’s strange experiences when he arrived in Tacoma. Confidential conversations in his hotel room were passed on to the press by mysterious telephone informants etc. Why? Because the AEC knew, it had committed a No-No and security officials saw the Crisman story of a “flying donut as a perfect cover for a botched operation. “Kenneth Arnold had managed to send Ray Palmer some samples of the original Maury Island slag and Palmer had them analyzed. He was baffled by the laboratory analysis because he knew nothing about metallurgy and he certainly didn’t know anything about the Top Secret process for creating plutonium. It was not until the 1960’s that information about that process was publicly revealed. Part of it included piping deadly fluorine gas through tubes of pure nickel. The slag-like material that accumulated in these tubes was high in calcium and matched Palmer’s sample. But Ray Palmer died in 1977 without ever knowing that the mysterious slag from Maury Island was not from outer space but was merely garbage from the miles of metal tubing in the world’s largest factory building in Hanford.”
Deceptive Practices, Untold Stories Later statement, letters and documents would show that the slag never came from a UFO but appeared to be a fabricated story started a year earlier to possibly commercialize and sell salvaged metal.
As Dahl and Crisman were already in the business of salvaging logs and familiar with Maury Island, it would have been convenient to take up another source of revenue in the area. Crisman had just been laid off a month earlier, was claiming to be single yet in reality separated from his wife and daughter, living in a small surplus military housing and was likely financially strapped. Harold Dahl was in the same predicament, going to movies to get away from his wife and also financially strapped.
UFO Proponents will claim Dahl’s retraction was due to intimidation but the total absence of the light metal and the shiftiness of Crisman behavior even gave Arnold and Smith great pause for concern. Arnold even in his later writing was likely reticent to admit Dahl’s story was true because that would have undercut his own sighting. In 1947, Kenneth Arnold was eager and even desperate to have the military and the public believe his sightings. Later interviews would show that Arnold still carried a chip on his shoulders at the lack of attention the military was showing to what many were concerned were foreign craft in our domestic airspace. In fact, even today sixty years later researchers are no closer to identifying the origins of these strange crafts that dozens of people have seen.
We Want to Believe Looking back, researchers are now seeing how the story of UFOs over Maury Island developed. The original story was that Dahl sighted six disks, one of which “fluttered to the earth and disintegrated.” Crisman and Dahl wrote Ray A. Palmer this story to Ziff-Davis Company.
“Dahl and Crisman have admitted that the material which they sent to Ray Palmer had no connection with any flying discs and had given a statement to that effect.
An UP Wireman in Tacoma (likely Ted Morello) advised that in early June 1947, he was requested by the Seattle PI to check on a story, which had been obtained from the Fire Chief at Harper Washington. The story originated with Fred Crisman – that Dahl saw 5-6 disks, one which fluttered to the ground and disintegrated.
Official Air Force Report, B-25 Bomber crash.
The official Air Force Report on the crash states “The cause of the fire could not be determined definitely”.
The First
UFO Military Cover Up In 1947, just two weeks before Roswell, the military was unprepared for the rash of UFO sightings and a bit of a loss to explain what was flying around. The military was also perhaps reluctant to admit informing other countries in a developing cold war setting. 1947 was still a time of “Loose lips sink ships” and government secrecy. A person didn’t question the government as an authority.
According to a recently discovered article on the crash, in the Longview Daily article published shortly after the crash of August 1, entitled “Springer Arrives To See Crash Scene” some indication is given that there was an attempt to provide a different explanation for the officer’s investigations. Was this perhaps an early example of government disinformation? The article states “Information reaching The Daily News concerning the flight tended to dispel rumors of flying discs or secret missions, indicating that the aviators, Capt. William L. Davidson, San Francisco, and 1st Lt. Frank M. Brown of Vallejo took off from McChord Field bound for Hamilton Field, California, early Friday morning to gain some night flying time on their logbooks.” This may have been one of the military’s first attempts at a UFO sighting cover up to the press.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer I.N.S. article states “a Fourth Air Force officer verified Capt. Davidson’ and Lt. Brown’s deaths but stated that the report that their ill-fated bomber was returning with classified or secret material was “just a flight of fancy.”
Despite speculation of a hoax with Dahl and Crisman, Smith in his FBI statement would relate that Brown and Davidson were of the opinion that there might be some truth to the current flying disk stories but their immediate superiors did not agree with them. Perhaps this is why 1stLt. Brown called Arnold at a pay phone upon Arnold’s request to review Dahl and Crisman. Smith says that Crisman left after the military officers left for McChord field and he and Arnold went for donuts.
Smith’s statements to the FBI generally reflected Arnold’s account except for several details. Smith recalled Dahl saying his sighting was around the 23rd or 24th of June and the “Man in Black” visited him 4-5 days subsequent to his sighting. Another discrepancy, albeit slight is Smith recalls Harold Dahl stating his son was “16 years old,” not fifteen years of age.
Later that day Kenneth Arnold again received a call from Ted Morello. The mysterious informant that kept calling Morello stated the B-25 bomber from Hamilton Field had been shot down by a 20mm cannon.
The Tacoma Times that day’s headlines read “Sabotage Hinted in Crash of Army Bomber at Kelso and a sub-headline read “Plane May Hold Flying Disk Secret.” Written by Paul Lantz the article stated the plane had been sabotaged or shot down to prevent shipment of flying disk fragments to Hamilton Field, California, for analysis. “The disk parts were said by the informant to be those from one of the mysterious platters which plunged to earth on the Maury Island” recently. Leading substance to the caller’s theory is the fact that twelve hours before the Army released official identification; the informant correctly identified the dead in the crash to be Capt. William L. Davidson and 1st Lt. Frank M. Brown.
This Tacoma Times article also stated “At McChord field an intelligence officer confirmed the informants report that the B-25 Bomber had been carrying ‘classified material’.
Seattle Post Intelligencer Aug. 3, 1947 AP report states “Pieces not Located” Brig. Gen. Ned Schramm, chief of staff, Fourth Air Force, said he knew nothing about reports that the plane was carrying “classified” or secret material”
“As far as I know, the plane was supposed to come in here empty.” he said, “and there wasn’t a single, solitary, secret thing aboard.” Air Rescue Service Final Mission Report states “at 0930PST, a message from Sq. B informed that top secret material was in the navigators kit and to request Commanding Officer McChord Field to expedite all available information to Commanding Officer Hamilton Field.”
Edward Ruppelt mentions in his book “The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects” that “The report we had in our files had been pieced together by Air Force Intelligence and other agencies because the two intelligence officers who started the investigation couldn’t finish it. They were dead. Ruppelt also mentions “The two officers went to McChord AFB, near Tacoma, where their B-25 was parked, held a conference with the intelligence officer at McChord and took off for their home base, Hamilton.“
“When they [Davidson and Brown] left McChord they had a good idea as to the identity of the UFO’s. Fortunately they told the McChord intelligence officer what they had determined from their interview.”
“The whole Maury Island Mystery was a hoax. The first possibly the second-best and the dirtiest hoax in the UFO history."
Crisman would later in his letters to others say that he took great issue with the Maury Island UFO Incident being called a hoax. In one letter to Lucius Farish, Crisman would write he believed “they” presumably the Air Force still had the original negatives of the photos Dahl took and some of the material of the UFO. Crisman would claim that not all the material was aboard the B-25 Bomber the night it took off from McChord and crashed. Crisman would also claim the B-25 bomber “was recovered in it’s every piece”. (We know that comment not to be true as there were still many pieces of the bomber at the crash site in 2007). Crisman would also state in the letter “The plane was perforated in a 1,000 places by what is now the same type of holes that a laser beam makes in metal.” Crisman would also state some erroneous comments. Crisman stated he had read the Thurston County Sheriff’s report although the crash occurred in Cowlitz County and that the pilots were strapped in their seats when in fact 1st Lt. Brown was thrown from the plane and found some distance away. letter to Lucius Farish (undated) Thomas, Kenn.-Maury Island UFO, 1999.
If the officers had related this was just a story or a hoax to AF intelligence why shoot down the plane? I believe whoever shot down the plane didn’t know completely any fabricated story and had plans to down the plane shortly after they arrived at McChord and believed they did have some fragments or evidence of some kind on board. A saboteur would have had to have immediate access to the plane or known the flight path home to align a 20mm cannon. The questions would be who would have access and be able to shoot a 20mm cannon at a plane between Tacoma and Kelso Washington? How did the informant know details of this crash before the Army released the names?
Trail paved over part of the crash site in Kelso, Washington. Photo by Charlette LeFevre
Still a Mystery
Indeed, these new discoveries demonstrate that not all cases are investigated fully and time may reveal more information on a mystery that remains as complex and unsolved today as it was almost sixty years ago.
New documents, news articles and a review of all the pieces of the puzzle points to a fabricated story that may have tried to capitalize on a dumping of remnants of a top secret atomic energy project the public was not to know. Did Harold Dahl and Crisman stumble upon a secret project and their attempt to sell a story go awry?
If a fabricated hoax story was an explanation then another question still remains as to why Harold Dahl would fabricate such a bizarre detailed story of a Man in Black. And yet, after all the scrutiny on Dahl’s story the numerous other disks sightings in the summer of ’47 from pilots cannot be explained.
This incident serves to commend the actions of the officers that whether or not they believed the slag was legitimate or that the stories were contrived, these two intelligence officers took the witnesses and sightings seriously enough to interview the pilots and witnesses and risked their lives to secure what they believed to be evidence. This article is dedicated to the men and women who take a risk to find the truth.
Charlette LeFevre and Philip Lipson will continue to investigate this case, and document this Northwest mystery.
Recommended Reading Coming of the Saucers, Kenneth Arnold and Ray Palmer Maury Island UFO: The Crisman Conspiracy, Kenn Thomas What Happened in Room 502, Jim Pobst
The Man from Mars, Fred Nadis
Flyi
ng Saucers over Los Angeles, DeWayne Johnson A Farewell to Justice, Joan Mellen
Remnants of Truth, Thomas Beckham
Bibliography
Air Rescue Service Final Report, McChord Field, Tacoma Washington, Aug. 4, 1947
Airline Head Mystified Over ‘Flying Disk’ Fragment Story. Seattle Post Intelligencer, I.N.S. article, Aug 3, 1947
Ancestry.Com (addresses and relatives for Dahl, Crisman etc.)
Arnold, Kenneth and Palmer, Ray. The Coming of the Saucers, Amherst, Wisconsin: Ray Palmer, 1952.
Arnold, Kenneth. I Did See The Flying Disks. Fate Magazine, Vol. 1, #1.1948.
Arnold, Kenneth, The Mystery of the Flying Disks. Fate Magazine, Vol. 1, #1, 1948
Arnold, Kenneth. Proceedings Of The First International UFO Congress. 1980, Warner Books, New York, NY.
Arnold, Kenneth. Project 1947-Some Life Data on Kenneth Arnold project1947.com/fig/arnbiog
Beckham, Thomas Remnants of Truth. Echo Communications Inc., Louisville, KY, 2008
Biographical Sketch of Fred Crisman
deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showthread.php?1107-Fred-Lee-Crisman Bragalia, Anthony Maury Island no Longer a Mystery, A UFO Hoax ufocon.blo gspot.com/2010/07/maury-island-no-longer-mystery-ufohoax.html
Chuting Soldier on first flight, says it will be his last Seattle Times, Aug 2nd, 1947 p. (Elmer Taff) Covington, John seanet.com/~johnco/maury.htm (no longer active) A Curtis Commando R5C transport plane crashes into Mount Rainier, killing 32 U.S. Marines, on December 10, 1946.
historylink.org
Crisman Native Tacoman. Tacoma News Tribune, Dec 16th, 1975.
Crisman, Fred (aka Jon Gold), Murder of a City…Tacoma. Transistor Publishing Company, Twin Gates, WA, 1970.
Crisman’s Letter Fate, January1950
The Maury Island UFO Incident: The Story behind the Air Force’s first military plane crash Page 9