History | Page 29

CHAPTER TWO Reliable Sources Much has recently been written concerning German flying discs. To the best of my knowledge, no single source has all the answers. To piece this puzzle together information from various sources must be used. Of course, some sources are better than others. Categories of sources, in a somewhat descending order of reliability are: 1. Those actually involved with these projects. 2. Witnesses of flying saucers who had prior knowledge that the sighting was of a German saucer as opposed to an unidentified flying object. 3. Those who at the time had good reason to know of German saucers. 4. Third-party intelligence sources which verify claims made by the higher categories above. 5. Researchers who have interviewed principals involved in German saucer research. 6. Studies or scientific papers published by individuals identified as participants in these projects. Sources without names are not as good as sources with names. Information, data, or pictures without a "chain of evidence" linking them to the event are not as good as those with proper documentation. After almost sixty years, nothing is going to be perfect. These categories are not meant to be absolute. Some sources fit into multiple categories. Some reports have value even though they are not rigorous simply because they were later corroborated by other sources. When reading allegedly factual statements, the reader should always be looking for the source documentation for these statements. A writer's opinion or interpretation may be valuable but it should always be made clear which is who. Examples of the first category are those who worked on German saucer projects: Among these is Rudolf Schriever. Schriever was involved in a German saucers project which sometimes bears his name. As a source of information, he wrote an article on German saucers for the very respected Der Spiegel magazine (1). 29