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Old 22nd Nov 2011, 11:21
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Chris Scott
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Blighty (Nth. Downs)
Age: 77
Posts: 2,107
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A musician's ear instantly distinguishes, say, a distant bassoon from a French horn, either solo or ensemble. Whether kevmusic could mistake four Progress turboprops for a pair of Twin Wasp radials depends on experience and, to a lesser extent, recency.

Prior to the Dak having its public-transport wings clipped, I had been regularly hearing and identifying them passing by in several countries for over half a century like many others on this forum. In recent years, I had often been propelled from chair to garden by a familiar, distant drone just in time to see one trundling close to the horizon. Only occasionally did I get it wrong.

Nowadays in these parts one has to be content with the occasional Chinook: another iconic sound. Which leads me to wonder how much of the sound signature of the Twin-Wasp Dak is down to its propellers. But I think air-cooled radials inevitably transmit quite a lot of noise.
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