IFP3010 | InFlight200 1:200 | Lockheed RP-3D Orion US Navy VXN-8 Project Magnet 'Road Runner' 158227

Project Magnet was an unidentified flying object (UFO) study program established by the Canadian Department of Transport (DOT) on 2 December 1950, under the direction of Wilbert B. Smith, senior radio engineer for the DOT's Broadcast and Measurements Section. It was formally active until mid-1954, and informally until Smith's death in 1962. The ultimate goal of the project was to apply any findings on the subject of geomagnetism to the possibility of exploiting Earth's magnetic field as a source of propulsion for vehicles. Smith and his colleagues in government believed that UFOs, if real, might hold the key to this new source of power. A small-scale undertaking, Magnet used DOT facilities, with some assistance from personnel at the Defence Research Board (DRB) and the National Research Council. Smith eventually concluded that UFOs were probably extraterrestrial in origin and likely operated by manipulation of magnetism.