U.S. Special Project Linked to UFOs

From UFO Investigator June-Sept. 1963 Vol. 11, No.9 Page1

Bulletin. NICAP has been informed by a high-level Government source that very important UFO information is classified ABOVE “Top Secret.” According to this unimpeachable Source, this information is unavailable even to many top ranking officers who do not have a high-priority “Need To Know.” 

A special U.S. program significantly linked to a Canadian Government UFO investigation has just been discovered by a NICAP technical advisor. Entitled “Project Magnet,” this carefully unpublicized program is a worldwide operation using specially equipped Constellations, non-uniformed pilots and civilian scientists. 

(Project “Magnet” was the official name of the Canadian government UFO research operation headed by the late Wilbert Smith, a government scientist.) 

Existence of the U.S. Project magnet was first discovered by NICAP Advisor Robert C. Beck, former Lockheed flight test engineer, now president of an electronics and photographic company. Mr. Beck also secured the following pictures.

Each of the project Super Constellations is equipped with highly sensitive magnetometers to detect unusual magnetic variations, not only irregularities from the earth’s magnetic field, but also magnetic forces from any sources above the earth. It was this later type of magnetic interference which Wilbert Smith and his associate engineers believed a result of sustained UFO operations over certain areas. 

One important result from the U.S. program has been the discovery of peculiar magnetic forces from above the Key-West Caribbean area. Though no connection has been proved, this is the area where unexplained interference with aircraft compasses was reported by Navy flight leader shortly before his five-plane formation vanished.

 This case is now familiar to most NICAP members. One day in late 1945, five Navy torpedo planes took off from Ft. Lauderdale Naval Air Station, for navigation practice over the Atlantic. The planes never returned. A large Coast-Guard flying boat searching for the missing aircraft also disappeared. No trace of the six planes was ever found, despite a long search by Navy carrier pilots and beach patrol.

During the fruitless navy investigation, it was brought out that radio conversation between the flight leader and another of the missing planes had been heard, indicating that the compasses of all five planes had ceased to function correctly. It was suggested that this strange interference might have kept the flight from finding its way back to Ft. Lauderdale, though this did not explain how the planes vanished.

Advisor Beck's report

On August 22, 1963, Advisor Beck, attending a conference of electronic manufacturers at San Francisco, noted a Super Constellation on an auxiliary runway at the airport. Its tail bore the words "Project Magnet" with the identification number 145925. Using his Lockheed background. (he had tested Constellations) he managed to enter into a conversation with the plane's three pilots.

"Does 'Project Magnet' signify the same type of research by the Canadian Project Magnet?" he asked.

"Yes, it is closely related," one pilot told him.

When he boarded the plane, Beck was introduced to a civilian scientist named Crow (first name not stated) who was in charge of the research equipment.

The Constellation, stated Engineer Crow, was one of a number equipped with highly sensitive magnetometers. Technical comparisons with World war 11 typed are omitted here, since even the WW11 equipment is still classified as secret. The Project magnet field, said Crow, was covering most of the globe, searching for magnetic "anomalies" -usually variations.

During the discussions, Beck reported, it was obvious that Crow and the pilots were aware that this project was part of the overall search for UFO information. Beck learned that Project magnet had a "cover story," like the famous U-2 spy-plane flights. (The U-2's, prior to being forced to land in Russia, were explained a high-altitude weather observation craft.) The Project Magnet planes were supposed to search for unknown errors in the earth's magnetic field, to correct navigational charts.

While this undoubtedly is a by-product, it can hardly explain such a large program. existing magnetic charts are generally accurate enough for safe navigation, and they are well supplemented by radio beacons, radar, Loran (long-range guidance) and other aids.

In addition, Engineer Crow, disclosed that several of our satellites are equipped with special magnetometers which, like the Project Magnet types, can detect interference from above the earth. (Such as might be caused by UFO operations.)

According to Engineer crow and the pilots, their Super Constellation operations were arranged and paid for by the United states navy. Whether all are Navy controlled , beck did not learn; possibly NASA or the AF may also be involved.

If no other agency is concerned, it could mean that the Navy, barred by the AF from routine UFO evidence, has launched its own program to discover how UFO are powered and controlled, and if they are able to interfere with earth-made aircraft. The project may also involve gravity research, since according to Einstein's Field Theory electricity, magnetism and gravity are all the same force, but in different forms.

The discover by Advisor Beck raises the possibility of similar programs, projects created for behind-the-scenes UFO research while the AF automatically denies all UFO evidence. If any members have proof of such operations, or added Project magnet facts, we would appreciate receiving the information as soon as possible.

Note: The equipment used in the flying Saucer observatory set up by Wilbert Smith in 1953 had according to one inner circle member, one piece of state-of-the-art equipment. A state-of-the-art magnetometer. 

It should also be noted how many present day researchers point at the US Navy as a key player in the UFO game.

Project Magnet Official

The U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office has confirmed the existence of Project Magnet, an “Airborne Geomagnetic Survey,” as an unclassified project allegedly not related to UFO investigation. In the previous edition of the UFO Investigator (Vol. l1 No.9) NICAP reported a link between this project and the Canadian government project of the same name, which was an avowed attempt to obtain scientific data on UFOs. Personnel of one of the U.S. project aircraft, a specially equipped Constellation, had admitted to Advisor Robert C. Beck that the two projects were “closely related.” Mr. Beck was told that they were searching out magnetic anomalies, - disruptions of the earth’s magnetic field,-emanating from above the earth.

In a letter to a NICAP member dated November 21, 1963, Cmdr. P.B. Everson, U.S.N., gave the following information: