Overview
Newly reviewed Canadian government records shed light on two overlapping UFO investigations conducted between 1950 and 1954: Project Magnet, led by Department of Transport official Wilbert Smith, and Project Second Storey, a separate committee established to examine reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. Although the projects shared information and personnel, the records indicate that they were not identical in purpose or official conclusions. Project Magnet was authorized by the Department of Transport, while Second Storey used Smith’s reporting and investigative work without formally adopting his personal view that some sightings might have an extraterrestrial explanation.
The material appears in a digitized Canadian freedom-of-information document collection, in a file covering pages 6901 to 7200. The source record, published in 2020, includes correspondence, witness reports and newspaper accounts concerning sightings investigated by Canadian officials during the early 1950s.
Project Magnet and Wilbert Smith
Smith, a Department of Transport radio engineer, became one of Canada’s most prominent government investigators of UFO reports during the period. Project Magnet was an official departmental initiative, authorized to collect and assess information about unusual aerial observations. Smith’s work included gathering reports from government offices, newspapers, telegraph operators and individual witnesses.
The files also show the practical nature of this effort. In one memorandum, a Department of Transport official forwarded information about a reported “flying saucer” seen over Prince Rupert, British Columbia, to Smith. The letter enclosed a copy of the Project Second Storey plan and six copies of a report form. Officials instructed local personnel to interview witnesses and return completed reports to headquarters in sealed envelopes.
That exchange demonstrates how Smith’s reporting network supported broader government inquiries. It also suggests that the investigations relied heavily on routine administrative channels rather than a single centralized intelligence operation. Local offices were asked to identify witnesses, record their testimony and transmit the material for further review.
The Prince Rupert Case
The incident involved reports from the early morning of December 3, 1952. A newspaper account described a shiny, spherical object approximately the size of an airplane moving across the sky above Prince Rupert Harbour. At least three people reportedly saw it, with witnesses placing the object near cloud level and describing its movement as exceptionally fast.
One witness, Fred Ramsay, a draftsman at the Columbia Cellulose Company pulp mill, said he observed the object at approximately 8 a.m. while waiting for a ride downtown. “I saw this object, a white ball about the size of a plane,” he told the newspaper, adding that it appeared to be trailing something. Other accounts compared the object to a comet or suggested possibilities ranging from a weather balloon to an unidentified aircraft. A meteorological observer reportedly estimated the cloud ceiling at about 2,000 feet.
Project Second Storey’s Role
The documents indicate that Project Second Storey drew on Smith’s reporting and sought to interview witnesses identified through those reports. The committee reportedly met six times between 1950 and 1954. However, available material distinguishes the committee’s institutional position from Smith’s personal interpretation of the evidence.
Smith reportedly concluded that at least some UFO sightings could involve extraterrestrial vehicles. The Second Storey committee did not formally adopt that conclusion, instead treating the reports as material requiring evaluation. This distinction is significant: the existence of an official investigation did not necessarily mean the Canadian government had endorsed an extraterrestrial explanation.
Historical Significance
The records provide a view of how Canadian authorities handled UFO reports before the subject became associated primarily with later military and intelligence disclosures. Reports were circulated among transport officials, local offices, newspapers and investigators, while witness testimony was documented through standardized forms and follow-up interviews.
Taken together, the files suggest a cautious but organized government response. Project Magnet represented Smith’s departmental investigation, while Project Second Storey functioned as a broader review mechanism that considered his findings without formally endorsing his most speculative conclusions. The Prince Rupert case illustrates both the appeal and the limitations of the period’s evidence: multiple witnesses described a similar object, but the available records do not establish its identity.
