Gotha 104 (2 / 4)

Initially equipped with Daimler Benz piston engines, the aircraft had limited range. To increase it, a quite unorthodox method was used: a submarine which met a bomber somewhere in the Atlantic and shot a guided fuel tanker in the air. The bomber and the tanker established wireless contact, one of the crew took over the remote control to ensure link-up and refueling. Its mission accomplished, the drone-tanker returned to submarine's location and landed on water. Most fortunately, this complex and tricky way was avoided by virtue of newly-developed advanced diesel-electric powertrain. A number of JuMo diesels rotated Bosch generators, their power transferred to electric motors which, in their turn, were used for rotating propellers.