branch death_date death_place birth_place allegiance unit awards placeofburial_label placeofburial birth_date rank article_title name
aviation 26 october 1918 tournai , belgium hastings , ontario , canada george v of the british empire no. 29 squadron raf distinguished flying cross grave v.c. 8 , tournai communal cemetery allied extension tournai , belgium 12 november 1898 lieutenant henry coyle rath
 henry coyle rath
henry coyle rath

lieutenant henry coyle rath was a world war i flying ace credited with twelve aerial victories .
rath joined the royal flying corps in september 1917 .
he was assigned to 29 squadron on 5 june 1918 as a royal aircraft factory se .5 a pilot .
he scored his first victory on 28 july , helping fellow ace robert holme drive down a german two-seater reconnaissance plane out of control .
three days later , they again cooperated , destroying a similar plane ; rath also drove down a third recon plane in the same dogfight .
after driving down a fourth recce craft on 1 august , rath became an ace on 8 august .
in conjunction with fellow aces claude melnot wilson , arthur reed , and a couple of other pilots , rath destroyed a hannover reconnaissance craft .
during the remainder of august , he destroyed three more enemy airplanes and drove two down out of control .
on 14 october 1918 , apparently in the same combat that resulted in wilson 's death , rath destroyed two fokker d.viis , bringing his tally to seven enemy planes destroyed and five driven down out of battle .
on 26 october , rath collided with roderic maclean while they were flying at 12,000 feet over tournai .
both pilots died , though maclean lingered for a day before succumbing to injuries .
rath was buried in grave vc .8 in the tournai cemetery .
