In the darkest days of World War Two, long-range Luftwaffe Kondor bombers ranged far out into the Atlantic Ocean, sinking ships at will and guiding U-boats to attack British convoys. To counter this, expendable fighters were launched by catapult from specially fitted merchantmen. The aircraft could not return and the pilots - knew that there was a chance they would be picked up by an escort if they survived combat. But a chance was all they had.