Sarbacher letter (1983)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 6
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| Date | 29 November 1983 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Crashes & retrievals (topic), Beings & bodies (topic), Secrecy & cover-up (topic) |
| People | Robert Sarbacher, Wilbert Smith, William Steinman, Vannevar Bush |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 96 |
| Year | 1983 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1983 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 8 |
On 29 November 1983 physicist Robert Sarbacher, a former consultant to the Pentagon's Research and Development Board, wrote to researcher William Steinman that he had heard, while at the Pentagon, that materials from crashed flying saucers had been analysed and that leading scientists were involved. Together with a 1950 memo by Canadian engineer Wilbert Smith, the letter is among the most quoted documents in crash-retrieval research.[1][2]
The 1950 conversation
At a 1950 broadcasting conference, Wilbert Smith, Canada's chief delegate and later head of the Canadian government's Project Magnet, talked with Sarbacher. In a memo dated 21 November 1950, Smith wrote that he had learned that Americans believed flying saucers were real, that their methods of operation were not known, and that a small group led by Vannevar Bush was studying them, a subject classified higher even than the hydrogen bomb. The memo was classified top secret in Canada until 1969 and surfaced through researcher Arthur Bray around 1978.[3][4]
The letter
When Steinman tracked Sarbacher down and wrote to him, Sarbacher — then president of the Washington Institute of Technology — replied that his work for the Research and Development Board had been a limited, "dollar-a-year" role, and that he had not been involved with the people who made the recoveries or known their dates. He said that John von Neumann, Vannevar Bush and, he thought, Robert Oppenheimer were involved, that he had heard that materials from the crashes were extremely light and tough, and that he had the impression from office conversations that the "aliens" were built somewhat like insects. He said he still did not know why the subject was so highly classified.[1]
Assessment
The Smith memo and Sarbacher letter are valued by crash-retrieval researchers because they come from credible people independent of each other. Skeptics note that Sarbacher's 1983 recollections were vague and second-hand, given 33 years later, and that he may have been repeating rumours; he said he had not personally taken part in any UFO project. Both documents are genuine, but neither proves a crash retrieval.[2][5]
People and topics
- Robert Sarbacher — Physicist who wrote in 1983 that he heard recovered UFO materials were studied.
- Unidentified anomalous phenomena — The U.S. government's current term for unidentified objects in the air, in space and underwater.
- Wilbert Smith — Canadian radio engineer who ran Project Magnet and recorded talks with Robert Sarbacher.
- Project Magnet — A Canadian Department of Transport study of magnetism and UFOs run by Wilbert Smith in the early 1950s.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
- William Steinman — Researcher who corresponded with Robert Sarbacher and Eric Walker.
- Vannevar Bush — Wartime science leader named in the MJ-12 papers.
- Crash retrieval — The alleged recovery of crashed non-human craft by governments.
On the Timeline
- Montauk Phoenix and Rainbow claims (1983) — Alleged Montauk projects reportedly used radio and microwaves in mind experiments.
- Saucer-like helicopters claim (1984) (11 March 1984) — Kit Green tells Vallée some military helicopters were designed to look like flying saucers.
See every 1983 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- Patrick Gross, "Dr. Robert I. Sarbacher", with the 1983 letter, UFOs at close sight · ufology.patrickgross.org · archived copy
- "UFOs and the government", HowStuffWorks · science.howstuffworks.com · archived copy
- Wilbert Brockhouse Smith — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Kevin Randle, "Wilbert Smith and Project Magnet", A Different Perspective (Feb 2012) · kevinrandle.blogspot.com · archived copy
- Kevin Randle, "David Grusch and the Canadian letter", A Different Perspective (Jun 2023) · kevinrandle.blogspot.com · archived copy
- Dr. Robert Sarbacher — NOUFORS · noufors.com · archived copy
- Discussion of Wilbert Smith and Sarbacher — Metabunk · metabunk.org · archived copy
- cdn.preterhuman.net · cdn.preterhuman.net · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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