Project Magnet

Record summary

Transport Department engineer Wilbert B. Smith led Project Magnet, a Canadian program that collected and assessed reports of unusual aerial phenomena. The work included observations, interviews, and technical speculation about possible propulsion, later becoming important in UFO literature because of Smith’s memoranda and alleged conversations with American officials. The project did not establish an extraterrestrial explanation, and its surviving paperwork, interpretation, and relationship to U.S. programs require source-specific checking. This is an investigation lead rather than one single sighting.