Article/Document:
Canada's Flying Saucer Observatory
Nick Balaskas (UFO Updates mailing list 13 May 2002)
original source | fair use notice
Summary: Last month my friend Mike and I drove out to Smiths Falls to check out the huge collection of government surplus electronic and scientific equipment at 'W. J. Ford Surplus Enterprises' located in Smiths Falls, about an hour's drive west of Ottawa.
Last month my friend Mike and I drove out to Smiths Falls to check out the huge collection of government surplus electronic and scientific equipment at 'W. J. Ford Surplus Enterprises' located in Smiths Falls, about an hour's drive west of Ottawa. Since William Ford who runs this place (the owner is Ron, his son) once worked for the Federal Government under Wilbert B. Smith, Canada's best known flying saucer researcher, I had hoped to find and possibly purchase a part of UFO history - the actual instruments that detected a UFO from Canada's official flying saucer observatory. This facility at Shirley's Bay just outside of Ottawa was loaned to Smith for this purpose by Dr. O. M. Solandt, Chairmam of the Defence Research Board (there is even a street not far from this flying saucer observatory named after Solandt).
Although I was armed with photos from the archives of the gamma ray instrument; the magnetometer; the radio noise detector and the gravimeter that "went wild" during the detection of a flying saucer back in on August 8, 1954 - instruments which Ford was familiar with, he no longer had this equipment or any of the other "new science" hardware that Smith and other scientists developed with the help from the "boys topside".
According Arthur Bray in his book 'The UFO Connection', as early as 1951 Smith wrote to a senior member of the Canadian Embassy staff in Washington, D.C. that Project Magnet, Canada's first official flying saucer project, already had three engineers and two technicians that were working full-time on this project. I have been able to identify many more researchers, including some of Canada's top scientists, who were also actively involved with Smith in flying saucer research. In his book 'The Truth About Flying Saucers', Aime Michel also identifies a few more, including "Dr. James Watt, a physician from the department of military research [DRB]; Mr. John H. Thompson, another telecommunications specialist, Professor J.T. [Tuzo] Wilson, of the University of Toronto; Dr. G.D. Garland, the Dominion Observatory's gravitation expert, and other research workers." as well as the full support of "Dr. O.M. Solandt, President of the Military Research Department [DRB], and Mr. Dean Mackenzie, ex-President of the National Council of Scientific Research [NRC].".
While in Ottawa, I visited the NRC building where I asked to see the UFO papers of the late astronomer Dr. Peter M. Millman who chaired Project Second Storey (initially known as Project Theta), Canada' other UFO research project. Many boxes of these UFO documents are located in a basement value and remain highly classified. Never-the-less, the archivist I dealt with is excited at getting another chance to look through these UFO papers which he compared to the "X-Files" (yes, UFO entities are frequently mentioned) as he now searches for me something that was written about in the media back in 1954 - two mysterious satellites (meteoroids or E.T. spacecraft?) that were detected in Earth orbit.
I have plans to return to Ottawa soon to do follow up checks on some of these other individuals that were also involved, along with Smith, in Canada's flying saucer research projects. I would appreciate it a lot if anyone can provide me with additional information or new leads about these UFO projects and I will share whatever I find in future posts to UFO UpDates, including more about the two pre-Sputnik satellites.
Nick Balaskas
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