DDAY wrote:
I stumbled across a website that mentioned the helicopter used in many of
the Apollo spacecraft recoveries which had the big "66" painted on its side.
The site said that this Sea King was lost in 1975 off the coast of San Diego
when it got pulled into the water while using its dipping sonar.

The site was unclear, but did the sonar actually catch on a submarine?

Unlikely. Usually, such an event happens when the pilot accidentally
"backs down" into the water. It was not uncommon for the RADALT to
malfunction and the pilot would have to hold a 40' hover manually - it
only takes a few seconds backing down before the crewman reports water
coming up through the bell housing for the dipping sonar. The pilot
has to absolutely trust his instruments and even then, its a strenuous
and demanding evolution to hold a hover precisely at 40'. I only have
~ 150 hours in them and we backed into the water twice (I was in a
training command for most of it and nuggets were notorious for it).

Getting back to the possibility that it snagged a sub - I don't believe
I ever heard of that happening to any SeaKing.

Also, the site said that although the US Navy incident report claims that
the helicopter is in very deep water, divers have actually located the wreck
in only about 230 feet of water and there is a group seeking to recover the
aircraft.

I wonder what kind of diver was at 230 feet?

Anybody know any details?

Not I, sir.

v/r Gordon
HS-5, HS-10, HC-1 SH-3 First Crewman