Soon after the sight of "a bright amber disc" flying at terrific speeds over North Bay Air Station on 12 April 1952, Dr. O.M. Solandt, Chairman of the Defence Research Board, convened the first meeting of what was to become the Project Second Storey Committee.

The members of the Committee felt that because of their numbers the reported sightings could not be dismissed as "hallucinations" on the part of the public. It also felt that because of a heightened public awareness of flying saucers, created by banner headlines about sightings on 20 April, a "more active stand on the matter" was desired than the haphazard approach with which flying saucer reports were being gathered. The excitement of the first week, following the outbreak of reports across southern Ontario, and the publicity of the North Bay sighting, was reflected by two meetings of the Committee on 22 and 24 April 1952.

In addition to several Defence officials and intelligence officers, the Committee included Dr. Peter M. Millman of the Dominion Observatory and Wilbert B. Smith of the Telecommunications Division of the Ministry of Transport and author of the Project Magnet Report. As the public excitement ebbed, so did the optimism of the Committee. The meetings of 19 May and 17 November 1952, and the final meeting of 9 March 1953, were concerned with constructing a able reporting form. No active investigation was contemplated. A " Summary Report " was issued by Dr. Millman on 21 November 1953, which concluded that the lack of "facts" did not lend much hope to a scientific investigation of flying saucer reports. "The committee as a whole has felt that owing to the impossibility of checking independently the details of the majority of the sightings, most of the observational material does not lend itself to a scientific method of investigation." Forms for receiving reports were made available to government agencies.

The "Summary Report " was the end of the Canadian Government ' s interesting but short history of involvement in the study and detection of flying saucers and UFOs. Since then the government has played no role except, through the National Research Council and the Public Archives, to maintain and keep a file of reports of sightings volunteered by the public. Project Magnet and the Project Second Storey Committee may be seen in different ways. The undertakings seem innocent and simple by today' s standings, yet they have the earmarks of the characteristics that are now associated with the 1950s, which was a decade of rapid technological growth coupled with anxieties connected with the hostilities of the Cold War.

The Project Magnet report showed innocent enthusiasm and political naivete. The deliberations of the Project Second Storey Committee seem, in retrospect at least, as a deliberate attempt to wind-up Project Magnet and wind-down the federal government's involvement with what has been called "UFOria."