Percy Charles Pickard Group Captain Percy Charles " Pick " Pickard ( 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 . Background . Pickard was born in Handsworth , Sheffield , in South Yorkshire , England and was educated at Framlingham College . 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 . Service history . Pickard received a short service commission into the Royal Air Force in January 1937 , which was made Permanent in November . 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 . 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 ( Czechoslovak ) 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 awarded 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 - which carried out operations in support of the SOE in occupied Europe - at RAF Tempsford he was awarded a second bar to the DSO for outstanding leadership ability and fine fighting qualities . He was the first RAF officer in World War II to be awarded the DSO and two bars . For a while Pickard was station commander at RAF Sculthorpe . In October 1943 he was given command of No . 140 Wing of the Second Tactical Air Force by Basil Embry . This put him in charge of three squadrons of de Havilland Mosquito fast bombers . They became specilised in low level precision attacks . 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 Nazis , the chance to escape . The Resistance stated that the prisoners had said they would rather take the chance of being killed by RAF bomb s 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 killed when their 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 . Pickard is buried in plot 3 , row B , grave 13 at St . Pierre Cemetery near Amiens , France . Broadley is buried in plot 3 , row B , grave 11 of the same cemetery . Pickard was married at the time of his death . The French government called for him to receive a posthumous Victoria Cross .