Wilbert B Smith
Wilbert Brockhouse Smith was a senior Canadian government radio engineer who served in the Department of Transport's Broadcast and Measurements Section. In 1950, he authored two foundational documents in UAP history: a classified memo to the Controller of Telecommunications requesting permission for Canada to begin an official UFO investigation, and handwritten notes recording a meeting with US physicist and DoD consultant Robert Sarbacher — in which Sarbacher confirmed that flying saucers were the most highly classified subject in the US government, rated above the hydrogen bomb. Smith subsequently founded and directed Project Magnet, Canada's first official investigation into UAP propulsion, and was a central figure in Canada's early formal engagement with the UFO phenomenon.
| Role | Senior Canadian government radio engineer; founder of Project Magnet |
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Background
Smith held a distinguished career as a government engineer focused on radio wave propagation and magnetism. His interest in UAP was scientific and institutional: he believed that understanding the propulsion mechanisms of flying saucers — specifically the possibility of exploiting Earth's magnetic field — could yield revolutionary advances in transportation technology. His professional standing within the Canadian government gave him direct access to American scientific officials that an independent researcher would not have had.
The 1950 Washington Meeting and Memo
In 1950, Smith visited Washington, DC, where he met with Robert Sarbacher, a physicist who served on the US DoD's Research and Development Board. Smith recorded the following claims in handwritten notes preserved in his estate:
- The matter of flying saucers was the most highly classified subject in the US government, rated higher than the hydrogen bomb.
- Flying saucers exist.
- Their modus operandi is unknown, but a small group headed by Vannevar Bush is making concentrated efforts to study them.
- The entire matter is considered by US authorities to be of tremendous significance.
Smith's 1950 memo to the Controller of Telecommunications cited these disclosures as justification for Canada to establish its own UFO investigation. He also referenced having read Frank Scully's 1950 book Behind the Flying Saucers, which Sarbacher reportedly told him was "fundamentally correct" in its account of recovered craft — a statement that lent indirect credibility to the controversial Aztec UFO Case described in that book.
Historian Arthur Bray later uncovered both the 1950 Department of Transport memo and Smith's handwritten meeting notes from Sarbacher's estate, providing documentary verification of what Smith claimed to have been told.
Project Magnet and Project Second Story
Smith's 1950 memo directly resulted in the Canadian government authorizing two official UAP investigations:
- Project Magnet: Directed by Smith himself, this program studied the feasibility of reverse-engineering UAP magnetic propulsion concepts to exploit Earth's magnetic field as an energy and propulsion source.
- Project Second Story: A parallel effort focused on recommending appropriate government action regarding the UFO phenomenon.
Canada's engagement with UAP through these projects reflects Smith's unique role as a conduit between American classified knowledge and Canadian science policy.
Later Recognition
In 1983, Stanton Friedman tracked down Robert Sarbacher to verify Smith's account, and Sarbacher confirmed the substance of his earlier disclosures in a recorded conversation. Sarbacher's 1983 letter to William Steinman independently corroborated the key points Smith had documented more than thirty years earlier. The alignment between Smith's 1950 meeting notes and Sarbacher's 1983 statements — made independently and decades apart — is considered strong evidence that Smith's original account was accurate.
Significance
Wilbert B. Smith represents a rare case in UAP research: a credentialed government official whose written records provide a contemporaneous, primary-source account of an insider disclosure about the classification level of US UAP programs. His work established Canada as an early institutional participant in the international study of the UFO phenomenon and produced two of the most consequential documents in UAP history — one of which directly catalyzed Project Magnet.