- Percy Charles Pickard
-
Percy Charles Pickard 
Group Captain PickardNickname Pick Born 19 May 1915
Handsworth, Yorkshire, EnglandDied 18 February 1944 (aged 28)
Amiens, FranceAllegiance 
United KingdomService/branch 
Royal Air ForceYears of service 1937–1944 Rank Group Captain Commands held Battles/wars World War II Awards - Distinguished Service Order & Two Bars
- Distinguished Flying Cross
- Mention in Despatches
Group Captain Percy Charles "Pick" Pickard DSO & Two Bars, DFC, (16 May 1915 - 18 February 1944) was a British bomber pilot and commander during World War II. He is best remembered by the public for his role in the 1941 wartime propaganda film Target for Tonight in which he featured as the pilot of 'F for Freddie' – a Wellington bomber of No. 149 Squadron. He was killed in Operation Jericho.
Contents
Background
Pickard was born in Handsworth, Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England and was educated at Framlingham College.[1] Pickard was the son of the late P. C. Pickard and Mrs. Pickard. His sister was actress Helena Pickard, married to English actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke.[1]
Service history
Pickard received a short service commission into the Royal Air Force in January 1937,[2] which was made substansive in November.[3] He served with a bomber squadron before being appointed personal assistant to the air officer commanding a training group at Cranwell in 1938.He participated in fighting over Norway, France and during the Dunkirk evacuation.[1] He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in July 1940 while serving as a flight lieutenant in a bomber squadron. He was promoted to squadron leader with No. 311 (Czech) Squadron and was awarded a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in March 1941. In May 1942, as wing commander in charge of No. 51 Squadron, he was granted a bar to the DSO in recognition of his leadership in Operation Biting (also known as the Bruneval raid) on 27 February 1942. In March 1943, while commanding No. 161 Squadron at RAF Tempsford he was awarded a second bar to the DSO for outstanding leadership ability and fine fighting qualities.[4] He was the first RAF officer in World War II to be awarded the DSO and two bars.[5]
Pickard led the February 1944 low-level attack on the Amiens Prison, in the raid known as Operation Jericho. The attack was carried out at the request of the French resistance in order to allow a considerable number of their imprisoned members, who were soon to be executed by the occupying forces, the chance to escape, the Resistance stating that the prisoners had said they would rather take the chance of being killed by RAF bombs than be shot by the Nazis. Operation Jericho was a success but Pickard, together with his Navigator, Flight Lieutenant J. A. "Bill" Broadley, DSO, DFC, DFM, were both killed when their de Havilland Mosquito, HX922/"EG-F", was shot down by a Fw 190 flown by Feldwebel Mayer of 7. Jagdgeschwader 26 in the closing stages of the operation. Pickard and Broadley were initially reported missing and then in September 1944 it was announced that they had been killed in action.[1]
He was buried along with Broadley in Plot 3 at the St. Pierre Cemetery near Amiens, France.[6] Pickard was married at the time of his death.[1]
The French government called, unsuccessfully, for him to receive a posthumous Victoria Cross.[7]
Bibliography
- Mosquito At War by Chaz Bowyer - Ian Allen - 1977 - ISBN 978-0-7110-0474-0
- Armstrong Whitworth's Night Bomber by Ray Williams - Aeroplane Monthly - October 1982 issue.
- Royal Air Force A/Group Captain Percy Charles Pickard, Obituary. The Times, 22 September 1944.
References
- ^ a b c d e "Deaths". Issue 49962; col D (The Times): p. 7. September 22, 1944.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 34369. p. 895. 9 February 1937. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ London Gazette: no. 34457. p. 7352. 23 November 1937. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 35954. p. 1413. 23 March 1943. Retrieved 1 August 2008.
- ^ K. R. M. Short, ‘Pickard, Percy Charles (1915–1944)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edition, May 2008, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/62384. Retrieved on 5 November 2008 Archived 13 February 2011 at WebCite
- ^ Casualty details—Pickard, Percy Charles, Casualty details—Broadley, John Alan, Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved on 5 November 2008. Archived 13 February 2011 at WebCite
- ^ 'Operation Jericho', BBC (TV), 20 October 2011
External links
Categories:- 1915 births
- 1944 deaths
- Old Framlinghamians
- People from Sheffield
- Royal Air Force officers
- Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
- Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
- British military personnel killed in World War II
- Aviators killed in shootdowns
- British World War II pilots
- Companions of the Distinguished Service Order and two Bars
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