Something I've often seen claimed (and seen depicted in Hollyweird
epics) but never confirmed by someone in a postion to know, was
whether or not a really noisy aircraft (like a P-3 or a HS-3) could
actually be detected by a sub's passive arrays. I've always had my
doubts (that air/water interface is tough to penetrate) but I really
don't know.

Bill, I had a 5 day trip on the USS Boston as a 'field trip' to answer
that question for our staff - even at a fairly good SOA, the crew of
the SSN could plot and avoid sonobuoy splashdowns, to the point that
they aimed their boat between passive buoys or steered completely
around them. The sonargirls could also hear each 'mark on top',
whether it was a fixed wing or helo, but I didn't hear them call S-3
passes and I gathered they were harder to detect. There was no problem
at all hearing the H-3, and it showed up on their sonar displays so it
wasn't just a matter of "Sparks" squeezing his headphones together and
yelling, "Cap'n! We got company!" A helo in a dip was easy to hear -
at least as easy as surface craft. I never felt comfortable in a dip
after that excursion.

When you were VS, were you in Stoofs? If so, I'd love to hear how
'sniffer' worked.

v/r
Gordon