Edwin Charles Parsons (September 24, 1892 – May 2, 1968) was a Rear Admiral of the United States Navy, and former French Foreign Legionnaire, flying ace, Hollywood aviation technical advisor, FBI Special Agent, and author.

Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Parsons graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1910 and after attending the University of Pennsylvania, moved to California, where he learned to fly at Dominguez Field, Carson,[1] in 1912,[2] then spent 1913–1915 in the Mexican Army's Aviation Corps.

Parsons also is reported to have been responsible for purchasing and later flying a Curtiss Model D two-seated pusher, as well as fetching needed parts from El Paso.

Although Fonck's three dozen victories spoke for themselves, the American duo believed that the Frenchman's attitude in his actual speech was atrocious.

Understanding the importance of reconnaissance planes, with their potential to direct intensive artillery fire onto French troops, Fonck concentrated his attentions upon them; six shot down within a three-hour span proved it.

When the war ended, Parsons returned to the United States and joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation[8] as a Special Agent from 1920–1923,[9] but left to form his own unsuccessful private detective agency.

[10] With the help the film director and former World War I aviator William A. Wellman, Parsons was hired by Paramount as a technical consultant, working on the Oscar-winning Wings (1927), and on Howard Hughes epic Hell's Angels (1930), amongst others.