Edwin Claude Bromley

Lieutenant Edwin Claude Bromley was a Canadian World War I flying ace credited with twelve aerial victories. Bromley piloted a two-seated Bristol F.2 Fighter for 22 Squadron. The observers that manned the rear guns for Bromley were John Howard Umney, for ten victories, and Charles George Gass, for two.

World War I service
Bromley enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force while in Montreal on 17 September 1915. His enlistment papers denote his father, living in Vancouver, as his next of kin. He was five feet seven inches tall, with dark hair and complexion, and gray eyes. He joined the Fourth Overseas University Company. His first overseas assignment was as a sapper in the Canadian engineers.

Bromley flew solo on 16 July 1917, in England. On 17 October 1917, he was commissioned a Temporary Second Lieutenant as a Flying Officer in the Royal Flying Corps. He was subsequently assigned to 22 Squadron. On 8 November 1917, he and his observer were badly shot about in a dogfight and forced to land.

Bromley's first success in aerial warfare took place on 6 May 1918, when he drove a German Albatros D.III down out of control. He ran off a string of a dozen victories in little less than a month, with his last wins coming on 5 June. His final total included five enemy planes destroyed, and seven driven down out of control.

After his military service
Bromley returned to North America aboard the S. S. Scandinavian, disembarking in New York on 20 July 1918. After family visits, he returned to employment managing the Simmons mattress factory in Calgary. He married his fiance, Elizabeth Ayler, in October 1920. They had a daughter together three years later.

In April 1928, Bromley went missing for two weeks. His body was eventually found on the Simmons factory roof in a crouched position. The cause of death was unknown. His death date was determined to be 14 April 1928. Edwin Claude Bromley was buried in Burnsland Cemetery in Calgary.