I have been flying some P-3 flights off the coast of Vietnam. There was a lot of Soviet subs doing intel work during the War. I am using a bunch of different sims to develop out missions for a book I am writing. I use the flight sim to set in the pilots seat during missions. Yesterday I flew the route that Market Time Maritime Surveillance would have flown and today I flew an ASW mission out of Saigon. The equipment on the P-2, P-3 and P-5, especially the MAD device works best at 500 ft or below. I can tell you the boys in the VS (ASW squadrons) and the VP (Patrol Squadrons) had a rough job. The rhythm of the props and watching waves that close are hypnotic. I almost blinked off twice, think god for having to navigate, watching airspeed, altitude and heading keeps your eyes off the waves.
If you want to rack up flying time.....the seat of a maritime surveillance plane is for you...