Around the world
Canadian cases, from Shag Harbour to Falcon Lake. 30 events, newest first.
Government1954
Canada's Department of Transport ended Project Magnet, radio engineer Wilbert Smith's 1950-54 study of whether UFOs used magnetic propulsion. Smith's experiments were inconclusive, and his public belief that UFOs were extraterrestrial had drawn bad publicity.
Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
GovernmentOct 1952
Canadian Department of Transport engineer Wilbert Smith, head of Project Magnet, set up an observatory at Shirleys Bay near Ottawa to measure magnetic or radio disturbances he expected UFOs to cause. Smith believed the craft were probably extraterrestrial; the project was shut down in 1954.
Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
Government1952
Canada's Defence Research Board set up Project Second Storey, an advisory committee on flying saucer reports chaired by Dominion Observatory astronomer Peter Millman, which ran from 1952 to 1954. It did not investigate sightings itself but worked on a standard reporting form.
Photo: NRAO/AUI/NSF, photo by Woodruff T. Sullivan III, CC BY 4.0
Military10 Feb 1951
Crew of a Navy R5D flying from Keflavik to Argentia, including Lt. Graham Bethune, reported a glow that rose toward them and turned into a large circular object before leaving. Five aboard filed Air Force intelligence reports. The Air Force suggested the aurora or a meteor; Bethune disputed this.
Photo: USAAF, Public domain
Government21 Nov 1950
Canadian Department of Transport radio engineer Wilbert Smith sent a Top Secret memo proposing geomagnetic research tied to flying saucers. It relays what U.S. contacts reportedly told him, including that saucers were the most highly classified U.S. subject. The proposal led to Project Magnet.
Photo: Unknown photographer, Public domain
