The officers were driven to McChord Airfield, and departed for Hamilton Field, California around 2:15 that morning. At approximately 2:35 the B-25 piloted by Captain Davidson crashed near Kelso, Washington. An investigation by the government claimed the exhaust stack from the left engine caught on fire, igniting the wing and causing it to separate from the plane. As it broke off, it destroying the tail of the aircraft. Of the four men on board, the officers were the only men who were unable to parachute to safety.
However, newspapers received anonymous tips soon after the crash and before the investigation, which claimed the plane had been shot with a 20mm cannon to prevent the fragments from arriving at Hamilton Field. This report may have initially seemed far-fetched, but it named the officers twelve hours before their identities were made available to the public.
In the early minutes of August 1st, 1947, Captain Davidson and Lieutenant Brown departed the Winthrop Hotel after meeting with Kenneth Arnold, E.J. Smith, and Fred Crisman. As they were leaving, Crisman provided the men with a box of fragments alleged to be pieces of the UFO observed over Maury Island, which was placed in the Army command car sent to pick them up.