Percy Charles "Pick" Pickard was born on 16th May 1915 in Handsworth, near Sheffield. He was educated at Framlingham College, although he struggled with reading and writing which may have been contributed to dyslexia.

On graduation, he spent time in East Africa and enlisted in the King's African Rifles, but with war looming, he returned to the UK. Percy applied to join the Army but was turned down due to poor school results so, in January 1937, he was accepted by the RAF and, after completing pilot training with an "above average" rating, was posted to 214 Sqn, where on 16th November, was promoted to Pilot Officer.

After a period at Cranwell as ADC to Air Vice Marshall John Baldwin, the air officer commanding the training programme, in October 1939, he was posted to 7 Sqn at RAF Upper Heyford, flying Hampdens. His first tour was completed following brief periods with 214 Sqn, 7 Sqn (again), and finally 99 Sqn at RAF Newmarket Heath, flying Wellingtons, one of the best bombers of the period. It was here that Percy met Ft Lt Alan Broadley, who became a good friend as well as his navigator -- a team that lasted for the duration.

In July 1940, Percy was awarded the DFC and by the end of the year, both he and Alan had completed 31 sorties and were transferred to non-operational duties. Following promotion to Squadron Leader, Percy joined 311 (Czechoslovak) Sqn at RAF East Wretham, bringing foreign pilots up to operational standards and it was here that he was asked to join the cast of a film being produced by the Crown Film Unit to promote the service. Percy played Sqn Ldr Dickson, whose aircraft was damaged on a raid over Germany and struggled to get back -- "Target For Tonight" was released in July 1941, was a box office hit and won an Academy Award in 1942. During his time with 311 Sqn, Percy received his first DSO and was awarded the Czech Cross.

His second tour began on 14th May 1941 with 9 Sqn at RAF Honington, again flying Wellingtons and by the end of August, he and Alan had flown 33 missions (bringing Percy's total to 64, which did not include those flown with the Czechs) and therefore, they were considered to have "done their bit" and were placed on non-combat duties. For Percy, these duties were mainly flying senior officers between bases -- and this did not appeal to this "man of action" -- so he eventually got himself transferred and in November 1941, he was made CO of 51 Sqn at RAF Dishforth, flying Whitleys.

By the beginning of 1942, German radar had improved -- specifically air defences -- and an example of the new Wurzburg system needed to be captured so that a system could be devised to disrupt it. One was situated on a cliff near Bruneval in Normandy and Operation Biting was planned to land a force of paratroopers to dismantle it and transport it back to the UK.

On the night of 27th-28th February, a force of 120 men from the newly-formed 2nd Battalion Parachute Regiment boarded the twelve Whitleys of 51 Sqn -- the Paras were led by Major John Frost, who is best known as the leader of the small group of airborne troops which managed to fight their way onto Arnhem bridge during the ill-fated Operation Market Garden in September 1944.

After a hazardous flight, the Paras were dropped, successfully dismantled the radar and returned to Portsmouth on motor launches -- all the Whitleys also reached their base safely. For his part in the raid, Percy was awarded a second DSO.

In October 1942, Percy was posted as CO of 161 Sqn, a clandestine special duties unit, supporting the resistance movement in France -- delivering and picking up agents which usually entailed landing and taking off from fields. For this work, he was honoured with his third DSO -- which made him the first RAF officer to achieve this in WW2.

On completion of his tour with the squadron, he was once again transferred to administrative duties and once again, he looked for a return to active service. The opportunity came when the RAF amalgamated several squadrons and created 140 Wing equipped with Mosquitos -- and Percy was chosen as its CO. After a conversion course, Percy led the Wing on many missions that were especially suited to the aircraft's speed and maneuverability -- indeed, Leonard Cheshire, the CO of 617 Sqn following Guy Gibson's death, quizzed Percy on the aspects of low-level flying as he was looking for an aircraft smaller and faster than a Lancaster for target marking. The two flew together on a short test flight and Cheshire subsequently got his way when three Mosquitos were delivered to RAF Scampton.

From then on, the accuracy of bombing specific targets became much more successful. In January 1944, 140 Wing was moved to RAF Hunsdon, north of Harlow in Essex and it was from here that Percy led the raid to bomb the prison at Amiens -- Operation Jericho -- considered to be the most famous low-level attack of all time.

At the time, some 180 members of the Resistance were held in the prison -- some of whom were reported to have extensive knowledge of the plans for the D-day landings and others who were about to be executed -- and the RAF were asked to assist in their escape.

Supposedly, the request came from the French but post-war research suggests that the first the RAF knew about it was when they were asked for details of the prison's design and defences in order to begin planning the raid. After the raid, the head of the French section of the Special Operations Executive stated that he had not requested the raid and didn't know who had. To this day, the circumstances involving the request and the true purpose of the mission remain among the war's secrets.

The walls of the prison were three feet thick and 20 feet high so extremely accurate bombing was required to breach the walls and therefore the raid had to be done in daylight. Three waves of Mosquitos were to attack the building -- the first to breach the walls; the second to destroy the German barracks and mess halls; and the third to destroy the prison buildings to kill all the prisoners should the first two waves fail.

They took off in very poor weather -- so poor that some of the Typhoon fighters which were tasked to protect the Mosquitos were ordered to abandon the mission or return to base. The two attacking waves of Mosquitos reached the target and began dropping their bombs with extraordinary accuracy -- however, a training flight of German Focke-wulf 190s appeared from the low cloud and saw a number of Allied aircraft below, including Percy who was in the second wave and turning to begin his bombing run. There was nothing he could do -- he was flying a larger, heavier aircraft; carrying a bomb; flying at a slower speed and very close to the ground so he couldn't dive and was flying a less manoeuvrable aircraft. The Focke-wulf shot the tail off the Mosquito and it turned on its back and crashed into the ground at St Gratien, 8 miles north of Amiens -- Percy and Alan were killed. 

They are buried in St Pierre CWGC cemetery in Amiens. The other aircraft had pressed home the attack and the buildings of the prison suffered severe damage -- two large breaches and several smaller ones had opened up in the walls and men were seen running through the courtyard and out into the surrounding fields. Of the 832 prisoners in the jail, 255 escaped including half of those due to be shot; however, many who escaped were shot as they ran from the prison and 182 were recaptured.

The French called for Percy to be awarded a posthumous VC but the RAF declined to support the citation, saying that "even though it was recognised that he was a fine pilot and excellent leader, the mission was typical for 140 Wing and other than flying in bad weather, there was nothing unusual in his conduct". They also said that another two honours sought by the French "could not be accepted, as British policy forbade the acceptance of posthumous awards from foreign countries". Percy's family is still pressing for these awards to be ratified.