On one particular mission near the end of the war, I had a very close call. I was in Victor Flight and was the element leader for this mission. Lt. Ray Viscarra was my wingman, (Vic 4). Our four-ship formation penetrated clouds with moderate to heavy rain. We broke into the clear near 30,000 feet and continued north to the target area in the clear. We completed our dive-bombing mission, releasing two 1,000-pound bombs, and then made several strafing passes.

The two elements separated to find targets of opportunity. During our return to K-13, the weather went from poor to bad. Approaching K-13, I contacted the tower and requested the weather. The tower operator responded, "Five by five." That was normally understood to be 5,000 feet and five-mile visibility, a "no sweat" condition. The tower operator acknowledged my understanding that it was 5,000 feet by five miles.

We penetrated at about 30,000 feet and on the heading of 210 degrees we crossed the high key at 15,000 feet. Letdown was a teardrop pattern using the ADF. I fully expected to break into the clear around 5,000 feet. Later, I was told that the tower operator was new and this was his first day of duty. He meant that the ceiling was approximately 500 feet with 500-foot visibility.

I established a one-needle width turn coming around to 330 degrees inbound and radioed for a practice GCA approach, but was told that it was not operational. I rolled out on runway heading 330 degrees and switched the ADF to runway frequency of 1625GW, keeping the needle straight up. Mobile control had no radio, but the problem was corrected and they came on frequency reporting that the ceiling was 300 feet with less than one-half mile visibility.

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