Robert Bateson

Air Vice Marshal Robert Norman Bateson (10 June 1912 – 6 March 1986) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot during the Second World War who flew extreme low-level raids against precision targets in occupied Europe. He started life in the English town of Watford, where he attended the local grammar school from 1914 onwards. Post-war he became a senior RAF officer. Military career Second World War Bateson joined the Royal Air Force in July 1936. After initial flying training, Bateson was granted a short service commission as an acting pilot officer in September 1936. He completed his RAF flying training in May 1937 and in June joined No. 113 Squadron RAF at RAF Upper Heyford where he initially flew the Hawker Hind. His squadron moved to RAF Grantham a few months later. The squadron was one of several RAF units sent to Egypt and the Middle East in mid-1938. Based at RAF Heliopolis, the squadron was among the last in the Middle East to convert to the Bristol Blenheim bomber, in June 1939. Bateson later took command of the squadron, from September 1940 to January 1941, in operations against Italian forces in Libya.