Project Magnet

Project Magnet was an unidentified flying object (UFO) study programme established by the Canadian Department of Transport (DOT) on December 2, 1950, under the direction of Wilbert B. Smith, senior radio engineer for the DOT's Broadcast and Measurements Section. It was formally active until mid-1954, and informally until Smith's death in 1962.

The ultimate goal of the project was to apply any findings on the subject of geomagnetism to the possibility of exploiting Earth's magnetic field as a source of propulsion for vehicles. Smith and his colleagues in government believed that UFOs, if real, might hold the key to this new source of power.

A small-scale undertaking, Magnet used DOT facilities, with some assistance from personnel at the Defense Research Board (DRB) and the National Research Council. Smith eventually concluded that UFOs were probably extraterrestrial in origin and likely operated by manipulation of magnetism.

Smith had been interested in UFO reports for since about 1947, when, according to a friend, he first claimed to have received "mental messages from space people."

While Smith attended a radio engineer's conference in Washington D.C. in September 1950, two books on UFOs came out, one by Variety magazine columnist Frank Scully called Behind the Flying Saucers, about crashed New Mexico saucers and recovered alien beings, and another by U.S. UFO researcher Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe, The Flying Saucers are Real, accusing the U.S. Air Force of concealing vital information about flying saucer reality. Smith had some theories about how the saucers might obtain their energy and propulsion through magnetic means, but before committing any time or money first wanted to know if the saucers were indeed real. Smith contacted the Canadian embassy and asked them to conduct inquiries into the matter. An interview was arranged by the embassy military attaché with Dr. Robert Sarbacher, a U.S. physicist, missile expert, and consultant to the Defense Department's Research and Development Board. In Smith's notes and a later memo summarizing Sarbacher's briefing (plus possibly other unnamed sources), it was stated that:

The saucers existed
The substance of Scully's book was correct
The matter was the most highly classified subject in the U.S. government, ranking even higher than the H-bomb
It was considered of tremendous significance by the government
A small group headed by Dr. Vannevar Bush was looking into the "modus operandi" of the saucers
Other aspects of the saucers were being investigated, including possible "mental phenomena"
This led Smith to lobby his agency for funding to study UFOs. Smith's memo of November 21, 1950, also said he had discussed the matter with Dr. Omond Solandt, head of the Canadian Defence Research Board, who agreed the work should go forward as rapidly as possible, and offered full cooperation of the DRB.

This development led in turn to the creation of Project Magnet, which was formerly approved on December 2, 1950, by Cmdr. C.P. Edwards, with two major goals:

Collection and analysis of high quality data to draw conclusions about UFOs;
Application of any data recovered to practical engineering and technology.
In June 1952, Smith issued a preliminary report arguing that UFOs likely came from intelligent, extraterrestrial sources, and almost certainly manipulated magnetism for flight. A 1953 report reiterated these same conclusions.

In late 1952, Project Magnet released a large weather balloon with a bright magnesium flare attached, to see if it might be reported as a UFO. It was not.

Also in April 1952, the Canadian government established Project Second Storey, a parallel UFO research project, with Smith also involved. It consisted of a group of scientists and military officers who met periodically to consider the UFO question and to recommend government action. Smith reported to Second Storey on some of Project Magnet's findings and conclusions.