The Maury Island UFO Incident: The Story behind the Air Force’s first military plane crash (14 page)

The weather at
1:30am
was clear with
visibility at
ten
miles.
Temperature was 53 degrees; wind North 3mph and shallow ground
fog south.

The following letter indicates that the FBI themselves did not know
who was doing the wiretapping, an aspect that regardless of the origins
of the slag should have caused a great deal of concern in the agency.
Note:
(parenthesis
indicates
likely
person
in
redacted
field)

Federal Bureau of Investigation United States Department of Justice
To:
Communications
Section
SAC,
Seattle,
August
14,
1947,
URGENT
Transmit the following message to:
Reutel August Twelve.
It is noted from interrogation of (Arnold)
claims that during the conference on July thirty one that (Dahl) and
(Crisman) apparently repeated their false story about the material being
fragments of a flying disc and only on Saturday night, August second
did (Dahl) admit that the story was a hoax. If such is the case it would
appear either (Dahl) or (Crisman) made the anonymous phone calls
since they would have been under the impression at that time that the
material furnished to Captain Davidson and Lieutenant Brown was
actually parts of a flying disc. It would also appear that (Dahl) and
(Crisman) did not admit the hoax to the Army Intelligence officers
because if they had done so the officers probably would not have taken
the alleged fragments with them on their fatal flight.
This matter
should be cleared up upon re-interview with (Dahl) and (Crisman)
when this point clarified no further investigation necessary.
Hoover
RGF:
mjp

Mon. - Aug. 4, 1947
Army Says Data Was On Plane
By Paul Lantz
The army air forces Monday confirmed reports the B-25 bomber,
which
crashed at
Kelso
Friday carrying
classified secret
material
pertaining to discs.
According to a United Press report Monday, Brig. Gen. Ned Schramm,
chief of staff of the Fourth Air Force at San Francisco, confirmed a
story carried exclusively in the Tacoma Times Saturday that the planes
had been on a disc mission. The Times, which was the first newspaper
to break the story, had been informed by an anonymous tipster that the
fallen plane carried disc data at the time of the crash. Still unconfirmed
is the tipster’s statement that the crash was caused by sabotage.
It was revealed Monday that specimens obtained on Maury Island by
two
Tacoma
businessmen
are of
a
substance unknown
to
the
University of Chicago metallurgists.
H.A. Dahl in the newsroom of The Tacoma Times told reports that
fragments picked up at the island by himself and partner prior to the
first sighting of the discs, were still unclassified by University of
Chicago technicians.

IN GRAVEL PIT
He said that he first saw the fragments in a gravel pit on the south end
of the island while exploring the pit with his son.
He said that he
informed
his
partner,
Fred
Crisman
of
the
find.
Crisman, thinking they might have a mineralogical value, went to the
island and secured several of the fragments. The fragments were sent
to a friend at the Chicago institution but technicians in the laboratory
there were unable to identify their metallic content. Shortly after the
first of the flying discs were sighted, Dahl said, he received a query
from the Trans-Ocean Press, a wire service, asking information on his
“flying disc fragments.” FLAT FRAGMENTS The fragments which
were picked up in the Maury island pit were flat, approximately one
inch in thickness of heavy, coppery color on one side, the other side
being covered with a heavy, hard substance which resembled melted tar
but which is heat resistant. The pieces, he said, had been examined by
Kenneth Arnold and Capt. Emil Smith.

Arnold and Smith are considered the most reliable observers of the
mysterious disc phenomenon.
Brigadier General
Ned Schramm,
fourth air force chief of staff, Monday confirmed a story carried
exclusively in The Times Saturday.
Arnold and Capt. Smith were
visited by Capt. William. Davidson and First Lt. Frank M. Brown, the
ill-fated army intelligence men from Hamilton field who perished on
the
return
trip
while taking back
material
to
Hamilton
field
headquarters. Capt. Smith and Arnold checked out of Hotel Winthrop
Sunday and closeted all afternoon with McChord field intelligence
officers. When interviewed by a Tacoma Times reporter Sunday night
at the home of friends on Lake Washington, Capt. Smith said all
information he and Arnold had gathered was turned over to the army.
He also took the occasion to deny a story printed in Boise and Chicago
papers quoting him as saying he had turned over six pieces of flying
disc
material
from
Maury
island
to
Davidson
and
Brown.
REPORT ON CRASH.
Army officers meanwhile said that the mystery surrounding a bomber,
which crashed near Kelso, Wash., while reportedly carrying “disc
fragments,” would be cleared up “by midweek.”

Major George Sanders, public relations officer at McChord field, the
departure point for the ill-fated plane, said “testimony of one more
person” was all that was needed before the army could make a
complete public report. He denied that the plane was carrying saucer
fragments.
INTERESTED IN MESSAGES
As the mystery of “flying discs”
deepened, army authorities were reported interested in the anonymous
phone messages received by The Tacoma Times and the United Press
in Tacoma. The mysterious caller, who has maintained a high batting
average for accuracy, reported late Saturday that he was leaving the city
that night but would return Tuesday.
At that time, he emphatically insisted that the bomber carrying disc
data had been shot down “by a 20-millimeter cannon.”
He further predicted that Capt. Smith would be called to Wright field
[now called Wright-Patterson AFB] by the army Tuesday.

ACCURACY SCORE
So far, the mysterious caller has been accurate
on the following scores:
“1. He correctly named the two pilots killed in the crash at Kelso and
correctly identified them as army intelligence officers 12 full hours
before the army released the information.
2
. He was correct in saying that the plane was carrying disc information
at the time of the crash.”
Still to be verified are his statements that the crash was caused by
sabotage and that the plane was actually carrying parts of a flying disc.
The “disc mystery” was resurrected from the Limbo of forgotten news
stories in an atmosphere of cloak-and-dagger secrecy as profound as
any in an Oppenheim thriller.
Events started Thursday afternoon with the first of a series of phone
calls to the Tacoma Times and the United Press.
At that time the informant, who has remained anonymous, informed a
reporter that Kenneth Arnold and army intelligence officer had met in
room 502, Hotel Winthrop, for an investigation of flying disc data.

ASKS FOR REPORTER
The informant hung up abruptly and was not heard from again until
the following day – Friday, when again the rich, baritone voice asked
for a Times reporter. Asked why he hung up so abruptly, the mystery
caller said he was a switchboard operator and had had to answer
another call. He then said that army intelligence officers were meeting
with Arnold and Capt. Smith in the hotel room; that flying disc
material was in the plane, which crashed at Kelso, and that McChord
field officials believed the plane had been either sabotaged or shot
down. That was the last call to The Times office.

NO STATEMENT
A Times reporter, checking on the information, discovered Smith and
Arnold in conference with two other men in the hotel room. Both, at
that time, refused to make a statement.
Meanwhile, United Press Correspondent Ted Morello received a call
from an unknown man who, speaking in muffled, obviously disguised
tones, identified the pilots killed in the Kelso crash as Capt. William L.
Davidson and First Lt. Frank M. Brown.
This was 12 hours before the army formally announced the names of
the dead. It was information unknown to anyone outside the army.
Saturday evening the mysterious caller phoned the United Press again.
At that time, he stated positively that the plane had been shot down by
20-millimeter cannon fire and that fragments of the flying disc were
aboard.
Meanwhile, in
Boise, Ida, and Chicago
Ill., newspapers reported:
1. That Smith and Arnold had loaded disc fragments aboard the lost
plane.
2. That there had been a tremendous explosion at sea prior to the first
sighting of the flying saucers.

Plane Crash Near Kelso Kills Man, Tacoma Times, Aug. 1.
1947
2 Parachute From B-25 Which Left McChord Field
McChord Field – (UP) The body of one army flier was found in the
wreckage of a B-25 bomber that crashed into a hill 11 miles east of
Kelso, and burned Friday, the fourth air force reported.
A McChord air rescue service ground party, headed by Capt. T H.
Forsberg discovered the plane and located the body after tramping
through hilly, brushy terrain of the Gobel creek area since early
morning.
ONE OFFICER MISSING
Two noncommissioned officers who parachuted from 10,000 feet with
only minor injuries, the army said.
McChord officials said one officer
still was missing.
S/Sgt. Elmer L. Taff, 24, Fort Lawton, reported to Kelso Police chief
O.C. Clark he and T/Sgt. Woodrow D. Mathews, 27, the bomber’s
crew chief, had bailed out when the plane developed motor trouble.
Taff
was
a
passenger
aboard
the
plane.
The B-25, stationed at Hamilton field, Cal., took off from here for its
home base at 2:12 a.m. today. Clark reported at 2:35a.m. He spotted
the plane flying low over Kelso. It appeared to be out of control, he
said.
CRASHES AND BURNS
According to Clark, the aircraft proceeded on course for about 11
miles, went into a steep dive, crashed, and burned. He immediately
instituted a search but was unable to locate the ship. An air rescue
plane from here was unable to spot the wreckage from the air because
of an early-morning ground fog.
McChord officials had reported
earlier that only three men were aboard. They said they had not been
aware that Taff was riding as passenger.

FBI Called Into “Disc” Plane Case!
Bomber Wreckage Being Examined for Secret Material
by Paul Lantz Tacoma Times Aug. 6? 1947
A party of high-ranking air force officers from Hamilton Field, Calif.,
was reported Tuesday to be examining wreckage of the B-25 bomber,
which crashed near Kelso, reported to be carrying flying disc data from
McChord Field. The “top brass” was said to be interested in
determining whether any secret material remained at the scene of the
accident, which occurred last Friday, resulting in the death of two army
intelligence officers attached to the Hamilton Field base.
….

Disc “Discoverer” Unhurt in Crash
Pendleton, Ore. (UP)
Kenneth Arnold, Boise businessman who started the national epidemic
of flying saucer stories, Monday night escaped injury when his light
plane
crashed
here
as
he
was
taking
off
for
Boise.
CAA said the motor “conked out” after he had climbed to 30 feet.
The plane fell to the runway, bending the landing gear and breaking the
main spar of the left wing.
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.”