Dudley Clive BATES

Dudley Clive BATES Update Details

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BATES, Dudley Clive

Service Number:	426426
Enlisted:	22 June 1942
Last Rank:	Flight Sergeant
Last Unit:	No. 9 Squadron (RAF)
Born:	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, 15 October 1923
Home Town:	Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland
Schooling:	Industrial High School,Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Occupation:	Clerk
Died:	Flying Battle, France, 18 April 1944, aged 20 years
Cemetery:	Clichy Northern Cemetery, France Plot 16 Row 15 Collective grave 16-18
Memorials:	Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, International Bomber Command Centre Memorial, Maryborough No. 3 Wireless Air Gunners' School Memorial Wall

World War 2 Service

3 Sep 1939:	Involvement Flight Sergeant, 426426
22 Jun 1942:	Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Aircraftman 2 (WW2), 426426, No. 3 Initial Training School Sandgate
15 Aug 1942:	Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, No. 3 Initial Training School Sandgate
18 Aug 1942:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Leading Aircraftman, 426426, No. 3 Wireless Air Gunnery School Maryborough
4 Feb 1943:	Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, No. 1 Bombing and Air Gunnery School / No. 1 Air Observers School / Evans Head
11 Feb 1943:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 426426, 3 Embarkation Depot (Sandgate)
26 Feb 1943:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 426426, 1 Embarkation Depot
26 Feb 1943:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 426426, 1 Embarkation Depot
6 Mar 1943:	Embarked Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 426426, Embarked -- Melbourne, Australia
17 Apr 1943:	Embarked Royal Australian Air Force, Sergeant, 426426, Disembarked -- U.K.
4 Aug 1943:	Promoted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant
15 Jan 1944:	Transferred Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, No. 9 Squadron (RAF)
18 Apr 1944:	Involvement Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Sergeant, 426426, No. 9 Squadron (RAF), Air War NW Europe 1939-45, Killed In Action

Help us honour Dudley Clive Bates's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.

Biography contributed by David Barlow

Wireless Air Gunner FSGT Bates was the tail-gunner on Lancaster LM361 of Number 9 Squadron (Bomber Command based at RAF Bardney in Lincolnshire) which was shot down over Paris, France, while attacking the railway marshalling yards at Juvisy

Three RAF crewmen were also killed and all four men are buried side-by-side in the Commonwealth War Graves section of Clichy North Cemetery in north-west Paris.

Three crew members, including two RAAF officers, survived baling out of the aircraft. Flying Officer James Arthur Smith (pilot) 413909 (O22022) RAAF and one RAF member made their way back to England through a neutral country. The other RAAF officer, Flying Officer Kevin William Light DFM 402447, was captured and become a Prisoner of War of the Germans.

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