Re: who shot down Sgt. James McCairns on 6 July 1941?
 

I agree with Ed, some sources are completely worthless, such as wikipedia.

Re: who shot down Sgt. James McCairns on 6 July 1941?
 

Wikipedia is like any other written source, you check the sources and if none are cited then you can safely dismiss it.

Re: who shot down Sgt. James McCairns on 6 July 1941?
 

Franek,

I strongly disagree. Any source produced by anonymous persons is immediately suspect. Print encyclopedias are produced by companies that do fact checking. The publishers must have high standards to maintain their reputations going forward. It can't be any other way.

Wikipedia is a deformed method of passing on knowledge. Without expert review, it cannot be trusted as a print encyclopedia would.

Re: who shot down Sgt. James McCairns on 6 July 1941?
 

Oh, you do have authors at Wikipedia, although hidden by nicks, sources are also listed, as well as you can browse history of changes. You cannot see that in printed encyclopedia. The problem is with their QC, some chaos in the articles, no cross check between various language versions, and sometimes, a political bias.

I can assure you I have seen so much pure BS & crap in respected printed books, that I certainly do not consider paper and ink a proof of anything, but a possible use for fish & chips due to lack of printed newspapers.