Bates developed his first aircraft, a piloted kite in 1898 at the age of 14 at Clear Lake, Iowa.

The monoplane was built using a wooden fuselage, with a fabric covered oval steel tube tail section.

Bates developed his own 30 hp (22 kW) engine for the aircraft that was also used on the Steinhous tandem biplane, and the Charles A. Hibbard monoplane of the same period.

[2] Bates tested and flew his designs at Cicero Field before the airport officially opened.

[4] An example of a 1912 Bates monoplane is in the EAA Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin It was purchased in 1918 and stored in a barn until its restoration in 1957.