William L. Davidson

Captain William L. Davidson (1910s-1947) was a United States Army Air Force intelligence officer who served in Military Intelligence during the early UFO investigation era. Davidson is primarily known for his involvement in investigating the Maury Island incident in July 1947, one of the first major UFO cases in the modern era. On July 31, 1947, Davidson and Lieutenant Frank M. Brown were dispatched to interview Harold Dahl regarding his reported UFO sighting near Tacoma, Washington. They collected physical fragments allegedly dropped by the craft. On August 1, 1947, while transporting these materials aboard a B-25 bomber en route to Hamilton Field, California, the aircraft caught fire and crashed near Kelso, Washington, killing both Davidson and Brown. The circumstances of the crash remain historically significant in UFO research circles.