Edwin C . Parsons Edwin Charles Parsons ( 24 September 1892 - 2 May 1968 ) aka Ted Parsons , was a Rear Admiral of the United States Navy , and former French Foreign Legion naire , flying ace , Hollywood aviation technical advisor , FBI Special Agent , and author . Early life . 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 , in 1912 , then spent 1913 - 1915 in the Mexican Army ' s Aviation Corps . At one point , Pancho Villa wanted him to train airmen ; however , Villa ' s raid on Columbus , New Mexico scotched Parsons ' interest . Parsons was brevetted by Villa as a Captain at a salary of $ 200 per month , payable in gold . Parsons ' attempt to teach some of Villa ' s cavalrymen to fly foundered on their lack of mechanical ability . 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 . Parsons departed as the Mexican Revolution ary movement split between Villa and Venustiano Carranza . World War I . Thus Parsons was an experienced combat pilot when the war began . He went to France at the end of 1915 . He served with the United States Ambulance service before enlisting in the French Foreign Legion . In 1916 , he became a pilot in the " Aéronautique Militaire " ( French Air Service ) and , beginning in January 1917 , he flew with the famed Lafayette Escadrille . He was credited with one victory and flew many times as Raoul Lufbery ' s wingman . He later elected to stay in the French air service instead of transferring to the USAAS when his unit was Americanized in February 1918 . He was assigned to the French squadron SPA3 in 1918 where he was credited with an additional 7 victories for a total of 8 victories confirmed . Parsons was a tangential figure in a spectacular performance on 9 May . It was sparked by a disagreement between René Fonck on one hand , and Parsons and his friend Frank Baylies on the other . Although Fonck ' s three dozen victories spoke for themselves , the American duo believed that the Frenchman ' s attitude in his actual speech was atrocious . Perturbed by Fonck ' s highhanded lectures on aerial success , the two Americans bet Fonck a bottle of champagne that one of them would shoot down an enemy plane before Fonck . Baylies took off despite hazy weather and shot down a Halberstadt CL . II . Back at the airfield , rather than pay off the bet , a sulky Fonck badgered the Americans to change the terms of the bet to whoever shot down the most Germans that day would win . Lingering fog kept Fonck grounded most of the day . It was well into the afternoon before it cleared enough for him to take off at 1500 hours . Between 1600 and 1605 hours , he shot down three enemy two - seater reconnaissance planes . A couple of hours later , he repeated the feat . 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 . List of aerial victories . See also Aerial victory standards of World War I Confirmed victories are numbered and listed chronologically . Unconfirmed victories are denoted by " u / c " and may or may not be listed by date . Between the World Wars . When the war ended , Parsons returned to the United States and joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a Special Agent from 1920 – 1923 , but left to form his own unsuccessful private detective agency . 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 . Parsons also worked as a screen writer , occasional actor , and technical director . He wrote articles for magazines , as well as authoring a book . He also wrote and narrated a radio series about his experiences , " Heroes of the Lafayette " . World War II . Having joined the Naval Reserve in 1934 , during World War II Parsons was an instructor at Pensacola Naval Air Station , and served aboard an aircraft carrier and a seaplane tender , and took part in the Solomon Islands campaign , earning the Bronze Star among other decorations . He joined the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander and ended the war as a Rear Admiral . The French government awarded him the Légion d ' honneur in 1961 . He died at 75 in 1968 , the last of the Lafayette Escadrille flying aces , and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery .