Homecoming

The crew of Bocks Car should have felt some release from tension, but they had only 300 gallons of fuel remaining...not enough to get them back to Tinian, and perhaps not even to Okinawa. Sweeney had his radio operator, Sergeant Abe M. Spitzer, contact the air-sea rescue teams to alert them to the possibility of ditching. There was no answer. The rescue teams had shut down, apparently deciding Bocks Car had long returned to Tinian.

When they reached Okinawa, repeated attempts to raise the tower for landing instructions went unanswered. Sweeney watched other planes taking off and landing, but knew he didn't have enough gas for protracted circling. He set off flares and finally somebody on the ground noticed. Bocks Car landed at 2 P.M. local time. The number two engine ran out of fuel while they were on the runway. They had a total of seven gallons of fuel left.

They refueled, took off for Tinian, and landed without further incident at 11:39 P.M. local time.

No one was on hand to greet them. There was no ceremony. No one had even thought to have food ready for the famished crews who hadn't eaten in almost twenty-four hours.

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