# Frederick Tees
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{{Short description|Royal Air Force airman}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Frederick Tees
|image= Fred Tees 1943.jpg
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption= Sergeant Frederick Tees {{circa}}1943
|nickname= Freddie
Frank
|birth_date= {{birth date|1922|06|16|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [Chichester](/source/Chichester), England
|death_date= {{death date and age|1982|03|12|1922|06|16|df=yes}}
|death_place= [Letchworth](/source/Letchworth), England
|burial_place=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [Royal Air Force](/source/Royal_Air_Force)
|service_years= 1941–1946
|rank= [Flight Sergeant](/source/Flight_Sergeant)
|service_number= 1332270
|unit= [No. 617 Squadron RAF](/source/No._617_Squadron_RAF)
|commands=
|battles= [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War)
* [Operation Chastise](/source/Operation_Chastise)
|awards=
|relations=
|other_work= Barber
}}
'''Frederick Tees''' (16 June 1922 – 15 March 1982)[{{cite web|url=https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/1904/46452_B294347-00193?pid=22941017&backurl=http://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?_phsrc%3DqzP52%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource%26usePUBJs%3Dtrue%26gss%3Dangs-g%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26msT%3D1%26gsfn%3DFrederick%2520%26gsfn_x%3D0%26gsln%3DTees%26gsln_x%3D0%26msbdy%3D1922%26msddy%3D1982%26msdpn__ftp%3DLetchworth,%2520Hertfordshire,%2520England%26msdpn%3D1666976%26msdpn_PInfo%3D8-%257C0%257C0%257C3257%257C3251%257C0%257C0%257C0%257C5268%257C1666976%257C0%257C0%257C%26cpxt%3D1%26cp%3D11%26catbucket%3Drstp%26MSAV%3D1%26uidh%3Drc8%26pcat%3DROOT_CATEGORY%26h%3D22941017%26dbid%3D1904%26indiv%3D1%26ml_rpos%3D2&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=qzP52&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true|title= Probate Record for Frederick Tees (1982)]|website=[Ancestry.com](/source/Ancestry.com)|accessdate = 17 May 2021}}] was a member of [No. 617 Squadron](/source/No._617_Squadron_RAF) of the [Royal Air Force](/source/Royal_Air_Force) who took part in [Operation Chastise](/source/Operation_Chastise), the "Dambusters" raid of 1943, as a [rear gunner](/source/rear_gunner). The raid was the inspiration for the 1955 film ''[The Dam Busters](/source/The_Dam_Busters_(film))''. He ended his days as a barber in [Letchworth](/source/Letchworth).
==Early life==
Tees was born in [Chichester](/source/Chichester) on 16 June 1922, the son of Henry Tees (1878–1944) and Elizabeth Gertrude Ayling (1885–1944).[{{cite web|url=http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/8782/ons_b19223az-1385/36779110?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dONSBirth84%26h%3d36779110%26ti%3d5538%26indiv%3dtry%26gss%3dpt%26ssrc%3dpt_t57074647_p44018168416_kpidz0q3d44018168416z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&ssrc=pt_t57074647_p44018168416_kpidz0q3d44018168416z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&backlabel=ReturnRecord |title=England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916–2005 for Frederick Tees|website= [Ancestry.com](/source/Ancestry.com)|accessdate= 17 May 2021}}]
==Second World War==
[[File:The Visit of Hm King George Vi To No 617 Squadron (the Dambusters), Royal Air Force, Scampton, Lincolnshire, 27 May 1943 TR1000.jpg|thumbnail|left|[George VI](/source/George_VI) visiting No. 617 Squadron in 1943]]
During the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War), Tees joined the [Royal Air Force](/source/Royal_Air_Force) in 1941 with the service number 1332270. Tees was posted to [No. 207 Squadron](/source/No._207_Squadron_RAF) on 12 November 1942,[{{cite web|url=http://www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk/othermems_617.htm |title=207 Squadron Royal Air Force History|website=www.207squadron.rafinfo.org.uk|access-date= 17 May 2021}}] before transferring to [No. 617 Squadron](/source/No._617_Squadron_RAF) on 6 April 1943.[ This squadron was created specifically to attack the [Möhne](/source/M%C3%B6hne_Reservoir) and [Edersee Dam](/source/Edersee_Dam)s using a specially developed "[bouncing bomb](/source/bouncing_bomb)" which was invented and developed by [Barnes Wallis](/source/Barnes_Wallis).
Tees took part in [Operation Chastise](/source/Operation_Chastise), the famous "Dam Busters" raid on 16–17 May 1943. [Sergeant](/source/Sergeant) Tees, who was 20 years old at the time of the raid, was the rear gunner in Lancaster AJ-C, piloted by [Pilot Officer](/source/Pilot_Officer) Warner Ottley, in the third and final wave of aircraft from No. 617 Squadron to leave from [RAF Scampton](/source/RAF_Scampton). AJ-C never made it to its target and was shot down near [Hamm](/source/Hamm%2C_North_Rhine-Westphalia). 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 fire][John 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".[{{cite web|url=http://www.dambusters.org.uk/the-dam-raids/the-raid-third-wave/ |title=The Third Wave|website=www.dambusters.org.uk|access-date=17 May 2021}}] 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](/source/prisoner_of_war).[ He was the sole survivor from the crew of seven. He required extensive treatment and was imprisoned at [Heydekruge POW Camp L6](/source/Macikai_POW_and_GULAG_Camps) for most of the war.][{{cite web|url=http://s310295659.websitehome.co.uk/dambusters/drupal/docs/frank_tees.pdf|title= Tees' Profile on Dambusters.org.uk|access-date=17 May 2021}}][{{cite web|url=http://www.rafbf.org/76-3387/the-prisoners-of-war.html |title=Tees on the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund |website=www.rafbf.org|access-date=17 May 2021}}][{{cite web|url=http://www.thedambusters.org.uk/aj-c.html |title=Tees on 'The Dambusters (617 Squadron)' website|website=www.thedambusters.org.uk|accessdate=17 May 2021}}]
==Later life==
In 1967 he took part in the Dam Busters reunion held on the 24th anniversary of the raid at [Scampton](/source/Scampton) in [Lincolnshire](/source/Lincolnshire).[[http://www.britishpathe.com/video/dam-busters-reunion Fred Tees at the Dam Busters Reunion 1967] – ''[Pathé News](/source/Path%C3%A9_News)'']
Later in life Tees lived at 12 Wilbury Hills Road Caravan Site and ran a gentlemen's barber shop in Station Road in [Letchworth](/source/Letchworth), [Hertfordshire](/source/Hertfordshire).
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.britishpathe.com/video/dam-busters-reunion Fred Tees at the Dam Busters Reunion 1967] – ''[Pathé News](/source/Path%C3%A9_News)''
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130828065027/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10270106/Dambusters-raid-all-crew-pictured-for-first-time-together.html 'Dambusters raid: all crew pictured for first time together'] – ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)'' 28 August 2013
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22544568 'Dambusters: All the men who took part'] – [BBC News](/source/BBC_News) – 27 August 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tees, Freddie}}
Category:1922 births
Category:1982 deaths
Category:People from Chichester
Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War II
Category:Royal Air Force airmen
Category:British World War II prisoners of war
Category:World War II prisoners of war held by Germany
Category:Military personnel from Chichester
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Frederick Tees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Tees) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Tees?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.