Are you sure that isn't a MAD bird?

Pretty sure. The location is wrong, and these are supose to be Seahawk
Foxtrots, which never had MAD (for much the same reason the Romeo won't)

From the hang of the cable I
would have said it wasn't one, either, but the apparent backward angle
seems to indicate that the helo is moving forward, which you wouldn't
typically do while at the dip.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...s/SH-60F_cable
5.jpg

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...s/SH-60F_sonar
-cable4.jpg

The position doesn't look quite right for the MAD bird, though. They
may have been at the dip and pulled it up to drop a fish. That would
explain why there's some forward motion. Pull the sonar out of the
water and start toward datum to drop a fish.

I thought they might be sideslipping to get some seperation between the
sonar head and the torpedo. It would be easier to do this if the head were
still in the water, with some extra drag to slow it down and keep it from
swinging like a pendulum. But the load on the cable could be scary, so
perhaps not.




I thought omni CASS was pretty old technology. Anyone know when it
was introduced?

The P-3 had them earlier, but surface ships (who did the processing
for helo-dropped buoys) didn't have gear that would handle it until
SQR-17 was fielded (mid-70s). Even then, they were viewed as a lot
more expensive than passive buoys so typically weren't carried.

CASS and DICASS were generally saved for dedicated ASW missions against a known
target. For much of my career, we didn't even carry them. For frigate-based
ops, we usually had just SSQ-41s and 47s available, some from ancient
contracts. Three to five buoy patterns of LOFAR passive buoys for getting a
general track on the target, then one or two pingers to pin him to the wall
prior to dropping the torp. As for dropping them from a hover, that was not
the normal way, but we certainly did it on occasion. I used to have a photo of
an H-3 in a dip, dropping a Mk 46. Personally, I think it would be silly to do
it that way unless you were pinging on a target at close range and had him dead
to rights.

And
of course nobody wanted to drop straight pingers unless they were
trying to herd the contact in some direction.


Dropping active buoys is like playing RAP music on a boombox in your hunting
blind.
I forget the math, but counterdetection ranges for active sonar was multiples
of the range for the pinger itself. So if you didn't get the first active buoy
damn close to the target, all you accomplish is to cause him to melt away into
the depths. LOFAR was always the way to go, until the DIFAR upgrades came
along. Instead of drawing circles on a plotting board and using "comparitive
lofargram analysis" (cof), DIFAR could actually give you a fix. But, most
SH-2Fs didn't get that gear until the Mark I was already being replaced. The
last thing I accomplished in the Navy was to help convince them to purchase
Computing Devices (Ottawa, CA) UYS 503 acoustic processers for the SH-2G.
Magnificent sensor suite - should have given the mighty 'Sprite' another ten
years of active service, but by then, the Seahawk Mafia had taken over...

SH-2 predated all that by just a bit. :-)

Does it really? The LAMPS I contract was awarded in 1970, and the initial
batch of 20 SH-2Ds was completed in 1972. This site at least says active
buoys were part of the kit.

http://members.cts.com/sd/b/bwickes/heloasw2.html

Bobby Wickes' site is sort of the repository for guys in my former field. He
and Devo do a great job and I keep meaning to forward a stack of photos to them
- a couple of friends and I run a companion SH-2F site called
"SeaspriteCentral.com", for those of you that are interested.

[Crossposted to rec.aviation.military.naval, where some AW types have been
known to hang out. Gordon?]

Right here - sorry, never saw the start of the thread, or the image that y'all
were discussing, so I was trying to catch up by lurking on the thread.

In the image, can you see if the arming wire on the torp has pulled out, or if
a parachute has been deployed?

Before I get into a torpedo thread, you should understand that I had terrible
luck with them myself - I'm nooo expert.

v/r
Gordon
====(A+C====
USN SAR

Donate your memories - write a note on the back and send your old photos to a
reputable museum, don't take them with you when you're gone.