page_title: Ralph Curtis
section_title: Death
hierarchical_section_title: Ralph Curtis / Death
caption_attribution_description: Nederlands: Duitse Militaire begraafplaats Hooglede Deutsch: Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Hooglede
context_page_description: Second Lieutenant Ralph Luxmore Curtis was a World War I British flying ace credited with fifteen aerial victories. He died from wounds sustained when he engaged in aerial combat with Hermann Göring, commander of Jasta 27. The aviator was interred twice in Belgian cemeteries, and was also commemorated on the Rainham War Memorial.
context_section_description: On 21 September 1917, pilot Second Lieutenant Ralph Curtis and his observer Second Lieutenant Desmond Uniacke engaged in aerial combat with pilot Hermann Göring, commander of Jasta 27, over Sleyhage, near Roeselare, West Flanders, also known as Roulers. Curtis was piloting Bristol F.2b (A7224). At 09:05, their Bristol Fighter was shot down by Göring. Uniacke was captured and became a prisoner of war, and Curtis died that day in a German dressing station from the wounds that he had sustained in the combat. Curtis was initially interred at Hooglede Ost German Military Cemetery in Hooglede, West Flanders. In 1924, his remains were transferred to Harlebeke New British Cemetery in Harelbeke, West Flanders, Belgium. The inscription on his headstone reads:
   "Second Lieutenant R.L. Curtis Royal Flying Corps 21 September 1917 Age 19 Sans Peur Et Sans Reproche (Without Fear And Beyond Reproach)."
   He is also represented on the Rainham War Memorial, a clock tower monument in the center of the town of Rainham, which commemorates the fallen of World War I.
caption: Hooglede German Military Cemetery
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