Haraka (#2),
I've read somewhere that, in WWII, some of the U-Boats had an autogyro "glider" aboard. On the surface, and heading into wind, there was enough airspeed to lift the thing (tethered to the back of the conning-tower on a 100ft line), a chap, a telephone and a pair of binocs, up to 50ft or so (a sort of flying "crow's nest"), from where he could scan the horizon for prey.
If danger threatened, they would not waste time reeling him in, but cut him adrift, crash-dived the sub, and left him (in the words of the writer) "to drown in the usual way".
I myself would gladly have had a go in an autogyro (well, if Ken Wallis could do it at my age, so can I), even if you'd need to push me up to it in my wheelchair. But too poor, too frail now (and, when my dear Mrs D. was alive, she'd never have let me anyway).
Ah, well ...... Danny.