on the 18th of December was at a synthetic fuel plant – a chemical plant right by Auschwitz in Poland. They got hit with flack and lost the number three and four engines, and they could not maintain altitude. They decided to head for Russia because then the inboard engine on the left-hand side started to heat up and they decided that it was going to freeze in a little while, it would get too hot and they couldn’t do anything about it so they decided to bail out. Lieutenant Beimbrink, and Lieutenant Felt told the crew to “bailout” and in the meantime Lieutenant Beimbrink was setting up the autopilot to hold the plane level so when he and Lieutenant Felt got out of the airplane it would be level and not fall into a spin.
William Beimbrink was the last man to jump out of the crashing plain. Unfortunately Bill Beimbrink’s chute never opened and the crew were unable to locate him on the ground. With the death of William Beimbrink LT. Spencer Felt was in command. The other 9 men were able to evaded capture until rescued by Polish partisans. they were hidden from the Germans for over five weeks and was eventually picked up by the advancing Russian Army.
December 18, 1944 the B24 California Rocket 42-51714 was shot down over Poland. The California Rocket was from the 757 Squadron, 459 Bomb Group, 15 Air Force.
Top left photo shows Back Row (L to R): Tad Dejewski, Spencer Felt Jr., William Beimbrink, Jim Patrick (transfered – not in Poland) Front Row (L to R): William McCutty, Bernard Racine, Jack Blehar, Ed Sich, Walt Venable. Missing: Robert Nelson, Clarence Dallas
