The Wilbert B. Smith memo (dated 21 November 1950) is a genuine, declassified Canadian Department of Transport memorandum that launched Canada’s Project Magnet and has been repeatedly cited by UFO proponents as documentary “proof” that Western governments treated “flying saucers” as a real, magnetic-technology phenomenon; the memo’s text and subsequent Project Magnet files are available in public archives and have been central to a chain of claims linking early UFO reports to “secret government research.”
Origins and immediate impact
- What the memo says: Wilbert B. Smith, Senior Radio Engineer, wrote that his geo‑magnetics work had produced a small experimental unit and that “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.”
- Result: The memo led to Project Magnet, an officially sanctioned Canadian study into geomagnetics and possible links to UFO propulsion and was classified Top Secret before later downgrading.
How UFO proponents used the memo
- Straight-line appropriation: Authors and researchers (Grant Cameron, Frank Scully enthusiasts, and later internet-era collectors) treated Smith’s memo as primary evidence that (a) governments had recovered non‑terrestrial craft and (b) magnetic propulsion was real. These readings often leaps from Smith’s engineering curiosity to “claims of recovered saucers and secret labs.”
- Key theories citing Smith:
- Magnetic propulsion narratives — Smith’s mention of extracting energy from Earth’s field was folded into accounts that saucers used magnetics for lift and inertia control.
- Secret recovery/cover‑up stories — Smith’s contacts in Washington (e.g., Dr. Sarbacher) were cited as corroboration that U.S. agencies hid crash retrievals; later writers amplified these links without always producing primary corroboration.
How the memo’s meaning shifted over time
- From cautious engineering note to proof-text: Smith’s technical optimism and references to other investigators were gradually reframed as confirmation of extraterrestrial hardware.
- Important point: Smith’s memo documents curiosity and a sanctioned research program, not a public, verified recovery of alien craft.
- Echoes in later UFO lore: Project Magnet materials were mined in the 1970s–2000s by researchers seeking documentary anchors; internet archives and FOIA releases amplified selective passages while omitting context about classification, scientific limits, and internal skepticism (cherry picking).
Most‑quoted paragraphs and how they were reframed
1) “sufficient energy was abstracted from the earth’s field to operate a voltmeter, approximately 50 milliwatts.”
- What Smith wrote (1950): a lab prototype produced a tiny measurable output (~50 mW), demonstrating qualitative proof of principle.
- Who quoted it and when: early ufologists and Project Magnet summaries in the 1950s–1970s (e.g., Project Magnet reports, Bray/Cameron compilations) highlighted the line as evidence Canada had working anti‑gravity tech.
- How it was reframed: small lab voltages → “working power plant” in later books and internet posts; qualifiers about scale and reproducibility were often dropped.
- 50 milliwatts = 0.05 watts, which is microscopic compared with utility power plants: you would need about 20 million 50‑mW devices to equal 1 megawatt.
2) “The existence of a different technology is borne out by the investigations… in relation to flying saucers.”
- What Smith wrote (1950): he observed a correlation between his geomagnetic theory and contemporary UFO reports; this speculation was framed as a hypothesis worth study, not a definitive claim.
- Who quoted it and when: Donald Keyhoe–era writers and later popularizers (1970s–2000s) used this sentence as a bridge from government research to extraterrestrial hardware.
- How it was reframed: hypothesis → proof: selective quoting removed Smith’s caution and experimental limits, turning a research suggestion into a declarative claim of “alien tech.”
3) Sarbacher-related passage: “The matter is the most highly classified… Flying saucers exist… we didn’t make them.”
- What Smith recorded (Sept notes / Nov memo): Smith reported what Dr. Robert I. Sarbacher allegedly told him at a Washington meeting—Sarbacher later confirmed parts of this in interviews decades later.
- Who quoted it and when: Sarbacher’s 1980s confirmations were widely cited by researchers in the 1980s–2000s as corroboration of crash/recovery narratives.
- How it was reframed: second‑hand rumor → official confirmation: later accounts often treated Sarbacher’s recollection as direct proof of recovered craft and materials, despite his cautious, limited statements.
Takeaways
- The memo is historically important and authentic; it shows that mid‑century scientists took the UFO question seriously enough to fund technical inquiry. It is not, by itself, conclusive proof of recovered "alien craft."
- "Formerly classified" does not equal "true."
Sources:
- Wilbert B. Smith memo (21 Nov 1950), scanned PDF (Internet Archive). https://archive.org/details/Smithmemo.PDF
- University of Ottawa — Project Magnet finding aid and holdings (archives). https://biblio.uottawa.ca/archives/collections/arthur-bray-fonds
- Rex Research — Wilbert B. Smith: Project Magnet (text & scans). https://www.rexresearch.com/smith/magnet.htm.
- RoswellProof / CUFON reproductions and commentary on the Smith memo. https://roswellproof.homestead.com/Smith_9_15_50.html
- HowStuffWorks summary of Sarbacher’s statements and later interviews. https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/ufo-government.htm.
- Wikipedia: Wilbert Brockhouse Smith (overview, Project Magnet). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilbert_Brockhouse_Smith
- LUFORU / reproduced memo images and transcription. https://luforu.org/smith-memo-1950
- Grant Cameron / secondary compilation of Smith papers and context. https://www.presidentialufo.com/wilbert-smith