Sgt. Bates was serving with 9 Squadron. He was a crew member of Wellington III X3276 WS- which took off from Honington on a mission to Boulogne. The aircraft and five crew were lost without trace.
Royal Air Force Bomber Command Losses of the Second World War: 1942; W.R. Chorley; 1994; Midland Counties Publications; ISBN 0 904597 89 X
He is remembered at Annfield Plain on A38.01 in Newcastle NUT012 and his story is told in Bainbridge: Our Fallen Heroes 1939-45 Ian Johnson.
