u/legendary724

I was just going through some stuff of my Grandmas that I’ve held onto since she passed 10 years ago and uncovered this photo. For reference she was born to a prominent Lebanese family, resided in South Australia and was very well travelled.

I don’t know the ins and outs of the history of this plane but found the photo fascinating so I asked ChatGPT for some additional info.

‘VA718 was originally manufactured as a Catalina flying boat and eventually assigned to No. 240 Squadron. Its pilot, Pilot Officer James Park, reportedly called the aircraft Katie because its squadron code letter was K.

On 15 September 1944, Katie departed Red Hills Lake near Madras, India, bound for Kelaa Atoll in the Maldives. The crew intended to refuel there before continuing operations in the Indian Ocean, where they were searching for a reported Japanese submarine.
When they arrived at Kelaa, the refuelling bowser had sunk during a storm. The aircraft therefore continued towards Diego Garcia with very little fuel remaining.
The crew became temporarily lost during the journey and had to obtain a radio direction fix to locate Diego Garcia. After approximately 10½ hours flying from the Maldives, Katie successfully reached the lagoon on 16 September 1944.

The aircraft was so low on fuel that both engines reportedly stopped while it was taxiing toward its mooring buoy. Then the story gets even more remarkable.

The Catalina was a pure flying-boat version, not the amphibious version with retractable landing gear. Because there was no suitable beaching equipment available, it remained moored in the lagoon.

That night, cyclone-strength winds struck Diego Garcia.
The aircraft broke free from its mooring. Because the fuel tanks were essentially empty, the crewman aboard could not start the engines to control the aircraft.
Katie was blown across the lagoon and ran aground near Pointe de l’Est, now known as East Point.
The crew survived.
The aircraft was inspected several days later and declared a total loss. Equipment was removed, and the airframe was gradually cannibalised and abandoned on the beach.

That means the wreck had already been sitting there for approximately 33 years when this photograph was taken.
And because Diego Garcia became increasingly restricted following the establishment of the joint UK-US military facilities during the 1970s, privately held photographs from the island during this period are historically interesting in their own right.‘

I was just going through some stuff of my Grandmas that I’ve held onto since she passed 10 years ago and uncovered this photo. For reference she was born to a prominent Lebanese family, resided in South Australia and was very well travelled.

I don’t know the ins and outs of the history of this plane but found the photo fascinating so I asked ChatGPT for some additional info.

‘VA718 was originally manufactured as a Catalina flying boat and eventually assigned to No. 240 Squadron. Its pilot, Pilot Officer James Park, reportedly called the aircraft Katie because its squadron code letter was K.

On 15 September 1944, Katie departed Red Hills Lake near Madras, India, bound for Kelaa Atoll in the Maldives. The crew intended to refuel there before continuing operations in the Indian Ocean, where they were searching for a reported Japanese submarine.
When they arrived at Kelaa, the refuelling bowser had sunk during a storm. The aircraft therefore continued towards Diego Garcia with very little fuel remaining.
The crew became temporarily lost during the journey and had to obtain a radio direction fix to locate Diego Garcia. After approximately 10½ hours flying from the Maldives, Katie successfully reached the lagoon on 16 September 1944.

The aircraft was so low on fuel that both engines reportedly stopped while it was taxiing toward its mooring buoy. Then the story gets even more remarkable.

The Catalina was a pure flying-boat version, not the amphibious version with retractable landing gear. Because there was no suitable beaching equipment available, it remained moored in the lagoon.

That night, cyclone-strength winds struck Diego Garcia.
The aircraft broke free from its mooring. Because the fuel tanks were essentially empty, the crewman aboard could not start the engines to control the aircraft.
Katie was blown across the lagoon and ran aground near Pointe de l’Est, now known as East Point.
The crew survived.
The aircraft was inspected several days later and declared a total loss. Equipment was removed, and the airframe was gradually cannibalised and abandoned on the beach.

That means the wreck had already been sitting there for approximately 33 years when this photograph was taken.
And because Diego Garcia became increasingly restricted following the establishment of the joint UK-US military facilities during the 1970s, privately held photographs from the island during this period are historically interesting in their own right.‘

I’ve had my 8GB RP6 for a few weeks now and it’s everything I could’ve ever wanted in a handheld growing up.

Since taking these photos I’ve really been enjoying Mario Wonder and Odyssey. I’ve owned switches before but never spent too much time on them so I’ve missed out on a lot of great titles til now!

Aside from that, I’m loving going through my old Gameboy and PlayStation favourites upscaled on this beautiful display.

My partner has been streaming Forza Horizon flawlessly on the RP6 while I’ve been playing on Series X, so that’s been handy too.

If I could change only one thing it would be the placement of the right analogue stick. I have fairly big hands so maybe it’s just not the perfect sized device for me, but the stick feels too low + outward, as well as being very close to the B button.

Hi there I have a Kramer Striker Wireless PS2 guitar which had come to me with sync issues.

I replaced both capacitors inside the guitar, guitar + receiver would still flash and not sync.

Ordered another wireless receiver and that solved the sync issue.

Now that the guitar syncs up it has presented an issue with the fret buttons.

The yellow fret works very intermittently, and the red fret activates both the red and green fret together. Green, blue and orange work normally as do all other functions.

I didn’t see any immediate issues when it was apart but the soldering work inside the guitars is not amazing from new to be honest.

Looking into the end of the guitar neck theres quite heavy wear from the guitar pins on the gold contact points. I have cleaned both ends with isopropyl which has made no difference. The neck doesnt move too much and moving it doesnt make a difference although flipping the guitar face down seems to activate the yellow fret more often.

I dont feel like the contact wear would result in two frets being pressed at once but would love some insight from anyone who has experienced or repaired similar.

Thank you