Folks,

I just watched on Netflix the fascinating story of "Winkle" Brown, WW2 Royal Naval pilot and test pilot. He flew over 400 planes in his time a record not likely to be broken. He has also made the record number of carrier landings. I recommend it if you haven't already seen the film documentary.

Dux:
Goldwave today is far more robust I'd imagine than the version I used in the 90s. Still Audacity reminds me of it with far more power from plugins. As I once wrote I have no direct experience with Wave Pad beyond what I read back when I was searching for a replacement DAW for Goldwave early in the new century. I believe it was also free then. Now I imagine there may be a free "crippled" version and a "Pro" of full version that costs a few coins. That is the way these things usually go.

As long as your needs do not exceed what is offered in the free version wave Pad is as good as any unless or until you needs change. I do not know if wave Pad supports VST or other plugins. If so you might be able to find an even better equalizer than the one that came stock with the program.

Chaps,

JRT,

It turns out that Wave Pad isn't free after all. The trial period has just expired...but at least I got enough out of it just for the immediate future.

I watched the 'Winkle' Brown documentary again only a few days ago. A remarkable record of service in the air.

The memory upgrade is on the way! I checked by 'phone to make sure it was the right type for my Gigabyte motherboard and actually doubled up to 8GB on a single stick. Apparently, there are some disadvantages to mixing different capacity sticks so I'll flog the other pair of 2GB sticks eventually.

Folks,
Dux:

Just checked on my phone and apparently there are 3 versions of Wave Pad. Namely, Free, Standard and Master. You must have downloaded one of the latter. Perhaps the Free version will still suffice?

Looks like you are on your way to victory once more my friend once the goodies arrive. Good luck.

JRT,

Wave Pad will now only save as a Project and not a file which can be sent to My Music. I downloaded it as the Free version. Looks like delete job. Thanks for checking.

JRT,

OK....I just deleted and re-installed from the NCH site, making sure I pressed the Free Version download button. I'll try another 'save to' test after selecting a suitable track.

Folks,

Dux:

I sure hope that will work for you. You seem to like using it.

Airplanes are now built to carry a pilot and a dog in the cockpit: the pilot's job is
to feed the dog, and the dog's job is to bite the pilot if he touches anything...

SIX MISTAKES OF MAN
1-The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others.
2-The tendency to worry about things that cannot be changed or corrected.
3-Insisting that a thing is impossible because we cannot accomplish it.
4-Refusing to set aside trivial preferences.
5-Neglecting development and refinement of the mind, and not acquiring the habit of reading and study.
6-Attempting to compel others to believe and live as we do.

Chaps,

JRT,

Mmmm....time for a few quotes, eh?

The right place to be can only be when the time is right. When returning from Tunisia in April 1980, I looked down on the Alps from the Dan Air flagship 727. Twelve days later, G-BDAN was in pieces on the slopes of Mount Teide.

Folks,

Dux:

Indeed, and the real secret to survival in air combat has always been to maneuver in such a manner that you never occupy the exact same airspace at the exact same time as your opponent's aircraft, bullets or missiles.

Was there a rabbit's foot, nite nite blankie or some other good luck talisman involved? If so, I want one just like it...

How did downloading the free version of Wave Pad work out? If it did not then I'd recommend Audacity. It is open source, free and no fancy, complex interface either. The GUI is simple, intuitively functional and straight forward. It is continually being updated AFAIK. I use Reaper but I still have Audacity on my old XP box.

Chaps,

JRT, PV1,

8GB memory upgrade installed and initial test did not bring up the English Text message so it looks like 4GB must have been cutting it too fine as you suggested. Still early days but we'll see how we go.

I refreshed Wave Pad by re-installing after deleting all files on the original. Usually, when you try this stunt a message comes up to the effect that the trial version has expired, referring to the first install but that didn't happen. Not yet, anyway. It is behaving itself so far...

Folks,

Dux:

Great news! We now desperately want to know what happened. You can post after action reports from Dover when they fish you out of the big drink...

The much heralded but somewhat controversial Win 10 goes out today. I reserved a copy but do not plan to install it straight away. I want to see more heavy in service testing by those braver than I am. I like Win 7 so far just fine but did not care for Win 8.1. It ran fairly well on a laptop but I think it was probably better on a touch screen install.

My front console headphone jack went down on Monday. I found that irritating if minor especially on a new machine. I called Dell tech support. They sent a replacement part to a tech company 50 miles from here in Raleigh overnight and the man was here repairing that small item at 2:30 PM yesterday. I cannot complain about Dell tech service if they do that foe such a minor part.

Of course everything electronic these days is modular. You don't just replace a capacitor like we used to do when Radio Shack sold parts. Today it is considered cheaper for you to replace a whole module. So it was with that tiny phone jack. That small part comes in a module consisting of two USB connections, a microphone jack, a card reader and of course the headphone jack.

Nothing slips past us. We noticed right away that the card reader was not included with the new module. This we took a a clue that we needed to pop out the card reader from the old module and install it in the new. I was surprised at that. This accomplished, we installed the new part, reconnected the cables and closed the case. All seemed well. The tech guy was very thorough and professional in checking everything before closing up.

We rebooted and all looked good up until I realized my wireless mouse had become paralyzed. Poor beastie. Next I found my wireless keyboard had suffered a nasty stroke and could no longer form words. OK, "wireless" is the key word here. Somehow that little receiver that makes the mouse and keyboard useful for more than paperweights wasn't working. That very small item plugs into a USB port where it is all but invisible. That tiny bugger had sprung loose when the front console was removed in a vain attempt to escape the day to day drudgery of passing on ones and zeros at my command. We found that little but essential part hiding in the back of the front console and I replaced it.

All is well now. I'm not 100% sure about Dell computers however I definitely recommend their tech service.

Dux, happy to hear the news, also happy that
perhaps even if coincidentally my prescription
seemed to solve the problem, not withstanding
the unestablished value of my diagnosis.

A much valued diagnosis if I may say so.

Chaps,

I've dusted down the Speedlink Black Widow and installed with just a few settings to adjust. I had all this info written down when I was playing the sim regularly, several years ago but it's no longer around I'm afraid.

Winds and rain will be sweeping in from the west tomorrow so that's put an end to the planned camping trip.

Folks,

Have you seen this about one of the last 3 original Dam Busters passing away? Our heroes are drifting away.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33769486

Chaps,

JRT,

That story was well covered over here but one media outlet mistakenly claimed Munro to be the last surviving member of that raid.

I watched the TV film First Light a few days ago. The story of Geoffrey Wellum DFC, an eighteen year old Battle of Britain pilot. Personal feelings and sensitivities were well portrayed but there were the usual production inaccuracies here and there which pass by un-noticed by the vast majority.

eg: No pilot entered first line squadron service having to be instructed by the ground crew on how to start the Merlin, including those who only had eight or nine hours on type. The name Kingcombe was scrubbed from the Operations board when he was killed but it re-appeared later in the film - as Kingcome. He actually survived the war. It was clear that Wellum flew two different marks of Spit on his first squadron flight. So on and so forth. They must have gained some of their historical information from Wiki...

Fewer and fewer left. I stumbled across an interesting site quite by chance. In 1946, according to the information in one of the posts, ex Dambuster Lancaster ED 906 (Maltbys AJ-J), was flown for the last time, to be scrapped. Oh, if only back then someone had thought about the future historic value of a genuine Dambuster Lanc being preserved.

Folks,

MG:

The only way I can explain it, and I may well be very far wrong about it, is this:

Perhaps after so many dangerous years of death and destruction the survivors were tired of war and the accouterments of war. It is perhaps understandable from that POV that they lost their perspective. Most on both sides wanted to put war and its deprivations, maimings and death behind them. Those who had lived to see the lights go back on no longer wanted to be reminded of the darkness or even the heroism of that time.

Years later those of us who were born at that time but know very little of what it was like have a different perspective. we yearn to know, to understand, to vicariously experience what that was like. Memoirs and the saved relics from that terrible time have become so valuable to us. At a time when the heroes of that war are passing from us and dwindled to just a few, we reasonably want to venerate the heroes of the time. We cherish and want to preserve the tangible artifacts still salvageable from WW2.

Well put my friend. well put.

Just coming to my mind is the fact, than many a Lanc produced in the UK was produced and assembled by Morris Garages. After the war, apparently many aircraft were scrapped and the metal melted and reused for motor cars, some of them built by Morris Garages.

Folks,

MG:

Thanks for your friendly comment.

I was not aware of the mundane and inglorious fate those historic aircraft came to. Thank you for your fascinating research. You always seem to have interesting facts right on the tips of your two typing fingers. Or perhaps you use more than two? Someone once told me there are folks who actually are able to do that.

I admit Dux would know better than I do about such matters. I've read that after the war many in Britain suffered continued shortages and privation with continued rationing. This being so I'd guess neither people nor government were much in the mood for spending hard to get brass on saving the relics of a hated if victorious war.

Churchill perhaps being perceived to be one of those relics, was unceremoniously turned out. I suppose those who were lucky enough to be able to afford a Morris Minor or whatever other Morris manufactured car didn't concern themselves overly much with the hallowed metal that was used to produce them. A pity but I can understand it.

Folks,

Dux:

Lookie what I came across in the archives today.



It fair brings a drop of moisture to these old blue eyes to think of all those listed and how things have changed so much.