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Wilbert B. Smith
In the 1950's
Wilbert Brockhouse Smith was a UFO researcher. Smith was an official with the Department of Communications (DOC),
and was the manager of a Canadian Government UFO project, Project Magnet.
Wilbert Smith held both a B.Sc. and M. Sc. in Electrical Engineering, and
was Senior Radio Engineer, Broadcast and Measurements Section, Department
of Transport (DOT). Smith was internationally recognized for his
work in radio communications, and he held a number of patents. He
had been responsible for engineering aspects of everything concerning the
use of radio in Canada, including equipment standards, radio relay
systems, broadcast facilities and interference studies. He was in
charge of establishing a network of ionospheric measurement stations
throughout Canada, and he often represented Canada at international
conferences.
Smith's interest in the UFO phenomenon and his influential position within
the government caused him to make a proposal to the DOT to establish
Project Magnet. Smith stated in the proposal that his group believed
that they were on the track of something which may well prove to be the
introduction to a new technology. It appeared that their work in
geomagnetics might well prove to be the linkage between our technology and
the technology demonstrated by the saucers. The purpose of this
proposed project was to study how magnetic and gravitational principles
might account for the reported flight characteristics of flying saucers.
There has been a resurgence of interest in Smith in the last few years,
primarily due to what has become known as the "Smith memo."
This was a memo which attracted a lot of attention around the time of the
MJ-12 papers, and the Smith memo helped lend a certain credibility to the
whole MJ-12 milieu. The memo, which now has been widely circulated,
is dated 21 November 1950, and was originally sent to the Controller of
Telecommunications as a proposal to study officially the UFO situation.
In this memo, Smith wrote, "The existence of a different technology
is borne out by the investigations which are being carried on at the
present time in relation to flying saucers." He also stated that by
making discreet inquiries at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, DC, he
had learned from Dr. Robert Sarbacher that:
A. The matter is the most highly classified subject in the United States
government, rating higher than the H-bomb.
B. Flying saucers exist.
C. Their modus operandi is unknown but concentrated effort is being made
by a small group headed by Dr. Vannevar Bush.
D. The entire matter is considered by the United States authorities to be
of tremendous significance.
Once discovered, this memo, sent by an influential Canadian government
official, wrought a bit of havoc within the UFO community. The
information contained in the memo, of course, resulted in the tracking
down and interviewing of Dr. Robert Sarbacher, and added considerable fuel
to the MJ-12 debates. But in a more practical sense, the memo's most
important aftereffect was far more immediate. After receiving the
memo, the Canadian Department of Transport quickly approved Smith's
proposal to investigate UFO reports in an official capacity. On 02
December 1950, Project Magnet — a classified Canadian government project — was officially born.
Smith and his group studied flying saucer reports from all across the
country and worldwide, and issued interim reports. On 10 August
1953, Smith filed a report in which he stated, "It appears then, that
we are faced with a substantial probability of the real existence of
extraterrestrial vehicles, regardless of whether they fit into our scheme
of things. It is therefore submitted that the next step in this
investigation should be a substantial effort toward the acquisition of as
much as possible of this technology...."
A mere three months later, on 13 November 1953, the first "flying
saucer sighting station" in the world was operational, at Shirleys
Bay, Ontario, ten miles from the nation's capital of Ottawa. At this
site were some very sophisticated instrumentation for the detection of
flying saucers. The equipment included a gamma ray counter for the
detection of cosmic radiation, a magnetometer to detect disturbances in
the earth's magnetic field, a radio receiver to check for radio noise, and
a recording gravimeter to detect variations in the earth's gravitational
pull.
On 08 August 1954, at 3:01 PM, the equipment at Shirleys Bay registered a
very definite disturbance. In Smith's own words, "the
gravimeter went wild." All evidence indicated that a UFO had
flown in close proximity of the station, perhaps within feet. Smith
and his group were alerted by an alarm which was linked into the
equipment. Unfortunately the area was clouded in and no visual
confirmation could be made, but the instrumentation did in fact record
that there was a major disturbance. Two days later, the DOT
announced that Project Magnet was being shut down. There were
several reasons given by the DOT for this move, but they did not include
lack of results.
Interest in the life and work of Wilbert B. Smith is arguably more intense
now than it has ever been, and with good reason, it would seem.
Research projects have been started, archives are being scoured, and new
information is being added to the record. There is already so much
literature devoted to Smith, that there is ample room to disagree on many
of the details of Smith's (and the Canadian Government's) activities.
For the most part, however, the picture is clear: Wilbert B. Smith was a
sensible and serious scientist who held an important post within his
government. He had a very sincere interest in the UFO phenomenon and
used both his scientific talents and some leverage from his position in
government to cause a real and true scientific study to be undertaken.
And this he did.
Canada lost one of its most influential UFO researchers of all time when
Wilbert Brockhouse Smith died on 27 December 1961, at the age of 52.
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