Plaque and Tree
Wing Commander Donald BATEMAN Royal Air Force (VR)
He may be the following.
Wing Commander 72748 Donald Scrimgeour BATEMAN. Royal Air Force (VR) 4 Squadron Royal Air Force killed in a flying accident 14th March 1944 aged 39, he was a passanger. Son of Dr. William Hirst Bateman and Ethel Jane Bateman husband of Elsie Bateman, of South Kensington, London. B.A., B.M., B.Ch., M.R.C.P., M.R.C.S., D.C.H.
Commemorated on a memorial plaque at the National Memorial Arboretum, Alrewas, Staffordshire, at rest in Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya.
The cause of the accident is as follows.
The Pilot, F/Lt. 80350 Ronald McDonald Napier , Royal Air Force (VR)of No.1563 Meteorological Flight, took a short run and the aircraft cleared buildings but struck a wireless mast and crashed, killing all aboard. (Appears to be only three) The purpose of the flight was to carry out special inoculations at an outstation . He was aged 38, Son of Ronald Macdonald Napier and Genievieve Napier husband of Karin Pavalds Napier, of Cape Town, South Africa. At rest in Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya.
The other passenger was
Sister 5126 Elena Juana CASSIE. No. 4 Hospital, M.E.F., Princess Mary’s R.A.F. Nursing Service. Daughter of Ralph Leith Cassie and of Helen Grace Hamilton Cassie (nee Naismith) od Edinburgh. She is at rest in Benghazi War Cemetery, Libya aged 33.
Extract from Kings College London.
http://www.kingscollections.org/warmemorials/st-thomas-hospital/memorials/bateman-donald-scrimgeour
Acting Wing Cmdr. Donald Scrimgeour Bateman was killed in a flying accident overseas on March 14, aged 40. He studied medicine at Oxford University and St. Thomas's Hospital, qualified in 1930, and took the M.B., B.Ch. degrees in 1936. He obtained the Diploma in' Child Health in 1935 and the M.R.C.P. in 1937. He was appointed to the Medical Branch, R.A.F.V.R., on April 18, 1939, and was called up for service at the outbreak of war. At the time of his death he was physician in charge of the medical division of an R.A.F. hospital over-seas. British Medical Journal 1 April 1944
