On December 18, 1944, at 12:45 PM, a heavy American bomber of the B-24 Liberator type crashed at the Pańska Przehybka pass. The aircraft, serial number 42-51714, named “California Rocket,” belonged to the 757th Squadron, 459th Bomb Group, 304th Wing, 15th United States Air Force, which was then operating from Italy.
Eight crew members safely bailed out of the aircraft thanks to the fact that, despite the obvious risk, the first and second pilots remained at the controls until the last moment. While descending by parachute, some of the airmen were fired upon by German border posts. Several sustained injuries while landing in dense forest. The aircraft crashed on the southern slope of the Kiczora-Przysłop-Gorc ridge in the area of the Przechybka clearing below the Pańska Przechybka pass.
Of the ten-member bomber crew, nine parachutists were found thanks to a quickly organized operation by Home Army partisans. However, the residents of Ochotnica were the first to reach the downed airmen, in several cases saving them from freezing to death. Unfortunately, during this operation, one of the Ochotnica residents, Józef Franasowicz from the Białówka settlement, was killed by fire from a German patrol. The airmen were taken over by partisans of the IV Battalion of the 1st Podhale Rifles Regiment of the Home Army, who were wintering in the shelters of the Czepiel family at Kurnytowa. The battalion was commanded by Captain Julian Zapała, code name “Lampart.” A patrol was sent to the crash site and found the completely destroyed, still-burning wreckage of the aircraft. No crew members were found inside the wreck. Since it was clear that the crash had not escaped the attention of German posts, it was obvious that a German patrol would soon appear in Ochotnica. All usable instruments and items were quickly removed from the aircraft, and several damaged Browning M2 machine guns were also dismounted.
Within approximately 30 hours, nine American airmen were rescued from the crashed aircraft. One of them, tail gunner William J. McCutie, landed in the Lubań massif in the Runek-Mostkowy area, partially on a tree. He was found and hidden in the home of the Czajek family in the Czepiele settlement in Ochotnica Górna. He was bruised and had a twisted leg. Six more parachutists took shelter at the Urbaniak farm in Kudowski Potok, where they had been brought by brothers Jan and Kazimierz Urbaniak. The following morning, partisans transported them by sleigh along the main road through Ochotnica Dolna and Górna to the Ustrzyk settlement. From there, they walked on foot through deep, powdery snow toward Forendówki and Kurnytowa Polana, where the battalion command was located. Along the way, they noticed tracks in the snow, and moments later an American airman hesitantly emerged from nearby bushes. It was Spencer P. Felt, the co-pilot. He had spent the night in a shelter near the Znaki clearing, in the ridge area of the Gorce mountains, near which he had landed. He was frozen but otherwise uninjured. Everyone safely reached Captain Lampart’s camp. Toward evening, a partisan patrol brought in the ninth crew member, Robert T. Nelson, who had been received from Soviet partisans.
At “Lampart’s” camp, the airmen were given a room at the battalion command where they could rest and gather strength after their recent ordeal. Three days later, the airmen were transferred to the headquarters of the 1st Podhale Rifles Regiment of the Home Army at Bukówka above Szczawa, in the Kamienica Valley. There they joined several dozen other downed airmen and escapees from prisoner-of-war camps who had found shelter in the partisan unit commanded by Major Adam Stabrawa — “Borowy.” There they witnessed the reception of the last supply drops for the Home Army and a serious skirmish in the Kamienica Valley, won by the partisans.
