Today In History:  06 August  [1943]   --  The German submarine U-177 uses an autogyro kite to spot a Greek steamer

The German submarine U-177 uses a manned, towed Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 autogyro kite to spot the Greek steamer Efthalia Mari, which the submarine then intercepts and sinks. It is the only occasion on which a submarine's use of an Fa 330 results in a sinking. 
The Fa 330 could be deployed to the deck of the submarine by two people and was tethered to the U-boat by a 150 m (490 ft) cable.The airflow on the rotors as the boat motored along on the surface would spin them up. The kite would then be deployed behind the U-boat with its observer-pilot aboard, raising him approximately 120 meters above the surface and allowing him to see much farther — about 25 nautical miles (46 kilometres), compared to the 5 nautical miles (9.3 kilometres) visible from the conning tower of the U-boat.
PHOTO: An Fa 330 on display at the Hubschraubermuseum, Germany.

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Photo Attribution:  CC BY-SA 3.0  via Wikimedia. Stahlkocher - Own work