IT was one of the most daring bomber raids of the Second World War, a low-level, precision operation on which the lives of many depended.

Operation Jericho, the RAF raid on the prison at Amiens, in northern France, in 1944 has, over the years, become the stuff of legend.

And now the do-or-die raid has been turned into a vivid documentary film, featuring archive wartime footage that has rarely, if ever, been seen before.

From The Dales to Jericho is the story of navigator Alan "Bill" Broadley, a butcher's son from Leyburn, North Yorkshire, who became one of the most decorated airmen of the war, with the Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross and Distinguished Flying Medal.

With his equally celebrated pilot, Charles "Pick" Pickard, he took part in sortie after sortie over occupied Europe, even working with the Special Operations Executive to land agents behind enemy lines.

Richmond film-maker Mike Porter has spent six years researching his documentary and interviewed many of those who knew and flew with Broadley.

He travelled widely in this country and in France to piece together the story, and his film follows the airman's path from a boy in the Dales to his death over France.

And, with the help of some astonishing archive footage from the Imperial War Museum, he focuses closely on Operation Jericho, in which Broadley was killed only days after his 23rd birthday.

The raid took place on February 18, 1944, and the idea behind it was to free Resistance workers, crucial in the run up to D-Day, who had been imprisoned by Germans in the Amiens jail.

About 700 were being held there and many were due to be executed the next day.

Shortly after noon, 19 Mosquitoes, led by Bill and Pick, screamed across at tree-top level and blew a gaping hole in the prison walls.

But after the wall came down, their plane was pounced on by two German Focke-Wulf 190s and its tail was shot away. The Mosquito smashed to the snow-covered ground in a field by the village of St Gratien, killing the two crewmen instantly.

Local villagers recovered the bodies and both men were buried in a war cemetery nearby.

The raid, though, had been a success. One hundred and two prisoners were killed, but almost 270 escaped through the breach.

For many years, the exploit was commemorated locally with a procession and service although, with old age creeping up, the last official commemoration was last year.

Mr Porter went to school with Broadley's younger brother and the two have remained friends, and it was a book about the Dales hero by Northallerton historian Tony Eaton, published six years ago, that spurred him to start work on his film.

He originally meant to create a three-minute insert into the Richmond Diary films he produces each year but, as he researched deeper, it became clear more time would be needed.

He said: "I did other work in between, but I always came back to Bill's story. It took me over in a way."

MR Porter took up film-making in 1960. He used an 8mm camera and, to start with, it was purely a hobby.

But it grew over the years and he now operates with professional equipment. Since retiring from work as an electrical engineer in 1994, he has become a full-time film-maker.

Over the years he has also raised almost £50,000 for charity through local interest films, and has won a loyal following for his annual Richmond Diary pieces.

With From the Dales to Jericho complete, he admits to feeling a little lost.

He said: "This has always been with me for the past six years and I am almost reluctant to let it go."

The film is available, priced £12.99, from Mills newsagents and Trinity Video, in Richmond, and Towlers newsagents, in Leyburn. Alternatively, write to 27 Westfields, Richmond, North Yorkshire, enclosing £1.50 for post and packaging.

* Go to The Northern Echo's online history site at www.northeasthistory.co.uk