Frederick Tees (16 June 1922 – 15 March 1982) was a member of No. 617 Squadron of the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

who took part in

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid, was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using spe ...

, the "Dambusters" raid of 1943, as a rear gunner. The raid was the inspiration for the 1955 film '' The Dam Busters''. He ended his days as a barber in

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

Early life

Tees was born in

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

on 16 June 1922, the son of Henry Tees (1878–1944) and Elizabeth Gertrude Ayling (1885–1944).

Second World War

During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Tees joined the

in 1941 with the service number 1332270. Tees was posted to No. 207 Squadron on 12 November 1942, before transferring to No. 617 Squadron on 6 April 1943. This squadron was created specifically to attack the

Möhne The Möhne () is a river in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is a right tributary of the Ruhr. The Möhne passes the towns of Brilon, Rüthen Rüthen () is a town in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Rü ...

and

Edersee Dam The Edersee Dam is a hydroelectric dam spanning the Eder river in northern Hesse, Germany. Constructed between 1908 and 1914, it lies near the small town of Waldeck at the northern edge of the Kellerwald. Breached by Allied bombs during Worl ...

s using a specially developed "

bouncing bomb A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be predeterm ...

" which was invented and developed by

Barnes Wallis Sir Barnes Neville Wallis (26 September 1887 – 30 October 1979) was an English engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the Royal Air Force in Operation Chastise (the "Dambusters" raid) to attack ...

. Tees took part in

, the famous "Dam Busters" raid on 16–17 May 1943.

Sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

Tees, who was 20 years old at the time of the raid, was the rear gunner in Lancaster AJ-C, piloted by

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off or P/O) is a junior officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is used by air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. Pilot officer is the lowest ran ...

Warner Ottley, in the third and final wave of aircraft from No. 617 Squadron to leave from

RAF Scampton Royal Air Force Scampton or RAF Scampton (formerly ) is a former Royal Air Force List of former Royal Air Force stations, station located adjacent to the A15 road (England), A15 road near to the village of Scampton, Lincolnshire, and north-wes ...

. AJ-C never made it to its target and was shot down near Hamm. Tees should have been the nose gunner but had changed places with Sergeant Harry Strange in the rear turret. Had he not done so Tees would have been killed as the aircraft was picked out by enemy spotlights and hit with antiaircraft fireJohn Sweetman. ''The Dambusters Raid'', Cassell (2003), pp 189-190 Tees later recalled that as the aircraft began to rapidly descend, Pilot Officer Ottley said over the intercom "I'm sorry boys, they got us". The aircraft then crashed. Tees managed to escape from the rear turret and was found unconscious and badly burnt on the ground and was taken

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

. He was the sole survivor from the crew of seven. He required extensive treatment and was imprisoned at Heydekruge POW Camp L6 for most of the war.

Later life

In 1967 he took part in the Dam Busters reunion held on the 24th anniversary of the raid at Scampton in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

.Fred Tees at the Dam Busters Reunion 1967
– ''

Pathé News Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as "British Pathé". I ...

'' Later in life Tees lived at 12 Wilbury Hills Road Caravan Site and ran a gentlemen's barber shop in Station Road in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

References

External links

Fred Tees at the Dam Busters Reunion 1967
– ''

''
'Dambusters raid: all crew pictured for first time together'
– ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' 28 August 2013
'Dambusters: All the men who took part'
–

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

– 27 August 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tees, Freddie 1922 births 1982 deaths People from Chichester Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Royal Air Force airmen British World War II prisoners of war World War II prisoners of war held by Germany Military personnel from Chichester