Flying officer Tytherleigh, a member of the Royal Air Force volunteer reserve, was the front gunner in the lead aircraft, 'B' flight, first wave, during the 'Dambusters' raid by 617 Squadron on Monday 17th May, 1943. The pilot was Squadron Leader H.E. Maudslay, DFC.

The Lancaster bomber, call sign 'AJ-Z for Zebra', did not have to attack the Mohne dam, because this had been breached before their turn came. Instead, they flew on to the Eder dam, where they made two trail runs before releasing the 'bouncing bomb' on the third. The bomb was released a little too late. It exploded on the parapet of the dam instead of the front elevation, just as the aircraft was flying over, and the Lancaster was damaged by the explosion. The crew began their journey back to RAF scampton but Flying Officer Tytherleigh died, aged 21, with the rest of the seven-man crew, when the plane was shot down at 2.35 am over Emmerich in Holland.

Flying Officer Tytherleigh was born in 1922. He lived with his parents, AP and Julia Tytherleigh in Hove, Sussex. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross on 29th June 1942. He is buried in Reichswald Forest Cemetery Germany in collective grave 5.b.16-18.

In June 2002, a six-paragraph letter purporting to be from Wing Commader Guy Gibson to Flying Officer Tytherleigh's parents, was offered for sale at auction in Swindon and was expected to raise £6,000. However, the letter was identified as a fake when Flying Officer Tytherleigh's sister, Edith Widdowson, noticed that the address to which the letter had been addressed was wrong and that the author had spelt the name of the pilot incorrectly.