Although often referred to as being a "captain" at the time of his last flight, Swales was in fact an 'acting' major. The S.A.A.F. was using the army ranking system, hence the ranks of 'captain' and of 'major'. At the time of his death on 23 February 1945, Swales was aged 29 years. In 1958, the British Air Ministry wrote to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission informing them that the South African Air Force authorities had confirmed that at the time of his death, Swales had in fact held the rank of major. The front page of the program for the opening of the S.A.A.F. Memorial in Pretoria on 31 May 1950, described Mrs. Olive Swales (who opened the Memorial) as being the "mother of the Late Major Edwin Swales, DFC, VC".