In 1950, Wilbert Brockhouse Smith — a senior engineer in the Department of Transport’s Broadcast and Measurements Section in Ottawa — submitted a classified memorandum to his superiors. In it, he reported that through discreet inquiries with American colleagues, he had learned that flying saucers were “the most highly classified subject in the United States government, ranking higher than the H-bomb.” He requested official permission to investigate. He got it.
The Smith Memo
Smith’s November 1950 memo — classified at the time, later declassified and now in the Library and Archives Canada collection — is one of the most significant UAP-adjacent government documents in the public record. In it, Smith reported:
- That flying saucers existed and were not of terrestrial origin
- That their modus operandi was unknown but appeared to involve magnetic principles
- That the US government was in possession of recovered material and had established a small group under Dr. Vannevar Bush to study them
- That the subject was surrounded by a security classification higher than the hydrogen bomb
Smith named Vannevar Bush specifically. Bush is also named in the Majestic 12 documents as one of its founding members.
The Shirley’s Bay Station
With official approval, Smith established Project Magnet in 1950 and built a purpose-specific detection station at Shirley’s Bay, near Ottawa. The station was designed to detect magnetic field anomalies and gravitational disturbances associated with UAP sightings. It operated with scientific instrumentation and was staffed and funded through the Department of Transport.
On August 8, 1954, the station’s instruments recorded a significant anomaly — a strong disturbance in the magnetic field that was not attributable to known natural causes. Smith scrambled to observe the phenomenon visually but cloud cover prevented direct observation. The reading was documented in the official station logs.
Project Second Storey
Running parallel to Project Magnet, the Canadian government established Project Second Storey in 1952 — a formal scientific study committee to evaluate UAP sighting reports from civilian and military witnesses. The committee included representatives from the RCAF, National Research Council, Defence Research Board, and other agencies. It sat and reviewed cases through 1954. Its findings were classified and have only partially entered the public record through Library and Archives Canada.
The Oracle Assessment
Smith’s 1950 memo naming Vannevar Bush, referencing US possession of recovered UAP material, and describing a security classification above the H-bomb — was written four years before the alleged MJ-12 documents were said to have been created. He was not working from those documents. He was reporting what American contacts told him directly. His scientific programme, funded by the Canadian government, then spent four years trying to detect what he believed was real. The August 1954 anomaly was his closest confirmation. The programme was shut down shortly after.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. Project Magnet final report, 1954. Wilbert B. Smith classified memo, November 21, 1950. Now in public record.