there might have been something (lights etc) to see to assess the weather/vis
This is something that has bugged me from the very beginning and rather pushes the question of NVG to one side.
They were flying straight towards a lighthouse flashing every 12 sec - an intense source - which they neither saw nor caught the loom of.
To me this implies that the visibility at that position and height was far worse that the reports and may have been only a few metres. The lamp was only 82 feet above them.
Both as a pilot who once spent a fair amount of time flying around at 200 feet over the sea in some appalling weather, and as a ship's navigating officer, I am mightily puzzled.