No, no, no. That was the Armor Mistel Project (known as "Amp"). The thinking was the L3 would hold the driver and aimer while mounted on the back of a Panther. The Amp would them make a high speed pass at the enemy and launch the panther after wiring the Panther's firing switch to "fire," thereby giving a continuous rate of fire. While the L3 would swoop off to one side or the other and return to base for re-arming. The lifeboat confusion came because many Italian crews waited until they were under fire before releasing the Panther and thus giving the impression of being a lifeboat. There were a couple of crew that became aces using the Amp. Their trick lay in their ability to finely tune the aim of the Panther so that it was an effective battering ram, causing much damage and the ensuing exchange of insurance paperwork would tie up the allies for hours (many of the allies did not even have their registration, much less proof of insurance in their tanks!).