Eddie August Schneider

thumb|Eddie August Schneider shaking the hand of [[Richard Bronaugh Barnitz in Los Angeles, California, on August 21, 1930]]

thumb|Schneider landing at Roosevelt Field on August 25, 1930, after completing round trip transcontinental flight

thumb|Schneider with a hot cup of coffee from his sister Alice Schneider Harms (1913–2002) on August 25, 1930

thumb|Schneider on August 26, 1930, in [[Chicago, Illinois, for the National Air Race ]]

thumb|Schneider on September 27, 1930, accepting the [[Great Lakes Trophy in Detroit, Michigan, from David Vincent Stratton of the Great Lakes Aircraft Corporation]]

Eddie August Henry Schneider (October 20, 1911 – December 23, 1940) was an American aviator who set three transcontinental airspeed records for pilots under the age of twenty-one in 1930. He set the east-to-west, then the west-to-east, and the combined round trip record. He died in an airplane crash in 1940, while training another pilot, when a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 belonging to the United States Navy Reserve overtook him and clipped his plane's tail at Floyd Bennett Field.

Birth and family

Schneider was born on October 20, 1911, at 2nd Avenue and 17th Street in Manhattan in New York. His father was Emil August Schneider (1886–1955) who was born in Bielefeld, Germany. His mother was Inga Karoline Eldora Pedersen (1882–1927), who was born in Farsund, Norway. Eddie had one full sibling: Alice Violetta Schneider (1913–2002) who married John Harms (1905–1985).

He was never called Edward, he was baptized as "Eddie Auguste Henry Schneider" on November 12, 1911, at Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Queens, New York City.

Early years

The family moved from Manhattan to Red Bank, New Jersey, and then to Jersey City, New Jersey, by 1920 where his father owned a delicatessen. Eddie attended William L. Dickinson High School and dropped out of school in 1926, at age 15 to go to work as a plane mechanic at Roosevelt Field in Hempstead, Long Island. He called it "the kangaroo". On August 25, 1930, he set the round-trip transcontinental air speed record for pilots under the age of twenty-one years in his Cessna using a Warner Scarab engine. The trip was sponsored by Richfield Oil. He flew from Westfield, New Jersey, on August 14, 1930, to Los Angeles, California, in 4 days with a combined flying time of 29 hours and 55 minutes. He lowered the East to West record by 4 hours and 22 minutes. He then made the return trip from Los Angeles to Roosevelt Airfield in New York in 27 hours and 19 minutes, lowering the West to East record by 1 hour and 36 minutes. He was carrying letters from the Mayor John Clinton Porter of Los Angeles, to Mayor Frank Hague of Jersey City. Combined he set three records.

Air tours

After setting the transcontinental speed record he entered in the 1930 Ford National Reliability Air Tour in Chicago, which ran from August 23, 1930, to September 1, 1930. He won the Great Lakes Trophy. Nancy Hopkins also flew in the tour that year.

In 1931 Eddie participated in, what was the last Ford National Reliability Air Tour, in his Cessna. A defect in his engine forced a landing while flying over a mountainous section of Kentucky. He made a forced landing in a corn patch on the side of the mountain. A new engine was sent to him and after a difficult takeoff, he went on to win first place for single engine aircraft, and finished third overall.

Time wrote:

During one of the National Air Tours, Schneider had taken off in his Cessna with the Warner Scarab engine, from Chicago bound for the balloon races in Cleveland. He saw the crowd scatter below, looked up and saw the 40-foot left wing of a twenty passenger Burnelli transport plane directly over him. Passengers in the Burnelli scrambled to the other side of the cabin to tilt the wing back up. Schneider sent his plane diving just as the Burnelli's wing scraped his plane's wing. A crash was averted by his dip. The officials said his quick action in dipping his plane close to the ground and then pulling clear of the grandstand had probably averted the most serious accident in the races. He married Gretchen Frances Hahnen (1902–1986) in New York City on June 2, 1934, at the New York Municipal Building in Manhattan. Gretchen was the daughter of Zora Montgomery Courtney (1882–1962) and was originally from Peoria, Illinois. Her father was Herman F. Hahnen from Des Moines, Iowa. She was a member the Jersey City Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and was director of the Aviation Club of The Jersey Journal, and the editor of the Junior Club Magazine. Eddie met her at an aviation function. They did not have any children.

Jersey City Airport

Starting on January 1, 1935, Eddie leased the Jersey City Airport and ran his flying school from there until the field was converted into a sports stadium using WPA money. Eddie was taking off in a Travel Air three-seat, open-cockpit biplane with his student, Fred Weigel (1904–1990), when the motor died. From an altitude of 100 feet they crashed into Newark Bay, but were unhurt and were able to walk ashore. He also taught Herbert Sargent to fly with just 55 minutes in lessons.

Spanish Civil War

In 1936, Eddie left for Spain to fly in the Yankee Squadron for the Spanish Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War with Frederic Ives Lord, Bertrand Blanchard Acosta, and Gordon Berry. They were recruited by a lawyer in New York City. Time magazine wrote on December 21, 1936: "Hilariously celebrating in the ship's bar of the Normandie with their first advance pay checks from Spain's Radical Government, six able U.S. aviators were en route last week for Madrid to join Bert Acosta, pilot of Admiral Byrd's transatlantic flight, in doing battle against Generalissimo Francisco Franco's White planes." He was promised he would be paid $1,500 ($ today) each month and given a bonus of $1,000 ($ today) for every rebel plane he shot down.

On returning to New York City in January 1937, Schneider claimed he was never paid in full. Spain claimed that they were paid in full, and were not owed any money. Others who flew for the loyalists included: Bert Acosta, Gordon Berry, and Frederic Ives Lord. When he returned he was questioned by Chief Assistant United States Attorney, John F. Dailey on January 15, 1937, in New York. Eddie's lawyer was Colonel Lewis Landes. On January 20, 1937, Eddie, Bert, and Gordon flew to Washington, D.C., and had to testify again. When talking to reporters Eddie said: <blockquote>I was broke, hungry, jobless... yet despite the fact that all three of us are old-time aviators who did our part for the development of the industry, we were left out in the cold in the Administration's program of job making. Can you blame us for accepting the lucrative Spanish offer?</blockquote> He later said "This was a mess... and there was always that never-ending jockeying for the power among the factions to contend with, it got to the point where we did not know who we were fighting and why, and you can say that we are damn glad to be back." The flyers had their passports confiscated, and they were to be returned when they attested that they had never forsworn allegiance to America.

Middle years

In 1938 Eddie stood at 5-foot, 8 inches (68 inches) and weighed 160 pounds (73 kg). He had blue eyes and blond hair, and he was living at 38 Broadway in Manhattan. Eddie began work for American Airlines at Newark Airport in New Jersey, he then moved to Jackson Heights, Queens on Long Island, when the American Airlines eastern terminal had moved to LaGuardia Airport.

Death

thumb|Eddie August Schneider's (1911–1940) death certificate, issued in [[New York (state)|New York.]]

On December 23, 1940, around 1:25 pm, Eddie was killed in an accident at Floyd Bennett Field at age 29, while training George Wilson Herzog (1903–1940).

The United States House of Representatives reported the accident as follows on November 7, 1941:

It appears that on December 23, 1940, a private plane piloted by Eddie Schneider was struck by a Navy plane, piloted by Ensign Kenneth A. Kuehner, United States Naval Reserve, in the vicinity of Floyd Bennett Field, Brooklyn, N. Y., causing the death of Eddie Schneider and completely demolishing his plane. The evidence indicates that the first contact of the Navy plane with the private plane was when its propeller cut through the tail of the private plane and cut the tail completely off. This was confirmed by the fact that the tail surfaces of the private plane were found later to have been completely severed and by markings found on the propeller of the Navy plane. After the propeller of the Navy plane severed the tail surfaces, the private plane pulled ahead for an instant. The Navy plane swung slightly then overtook the private plane, again cutting one of its wings causing it to immediately spin to the waters below. An inspection of the Navy plane revealed that the leading edges of both blades of the propeller had been gouged and nicked, apparently at the time the ...

</blockquote>

Widow

In 1941 Gretchen appealed to Congress to pay for the funeral, which totaled $365. On February 13, 1942, Gretchen again appealed to Congress for financial relief with HR 5290. Around 1953–1954 Gretchen donated Schneider's books to the Smithsonian Institution and they are now housed at the National Air and Space Museum. In 1961 she was given an award by the Early Fliers Club of Long Island.

Aircraft

1927 Cessna Model AW called "the Kangaroo". It was originally painted red and by January 1931 was painted in the Richfield Oil Corporation colors of blue and cream. "We named the ship the Kangaroo, because we hoped I could get to California in a couple of jumps."

Major air races

1930 Ford National Reliability Air Tour (National Air Tour) Detroit, Michigan; Plane number 21. Great Lakes Trophy, and eighth place overall.
1931 Ford National Reliability Air Tour (National Air Tour) Detroit, Michigan; Plane number 17. First place for single engine planes, third place overall.
1930 Eddie August Schneider.

1930 transcontinental itinerary

Westfield, New Jersey; departure: August 14, 1930, 5:55 am, Eastern Daylight Time.
Williamsburg, Pennsylvania; departure: August 15, 1930, 12:30 pm.
Columbus, Ohio, departure: August 15, 1930, 3:21 pm.
St. Louis, Missouri; arrival: August 15, 1930 7:05 pm, Central Standard Time; departure: August 16, 1930, 1:25 pm; elapsed time: 8 hours 38 minutes.
Santa Rosa, New Mexico, aka Anton Chico, New Mexico.
Albuquerque, New Mexico; arrival: August 18, 1930, 5:55 am, Mountain Standard Time; departure: August 18, 1930, 7:40 am, Mountain Standard Time.
Los Angeles, California; arrival: August 19, 1930; departure: August 21, 1930, 6:17:30 am, Pacific Standard Time (elapsed flying time of 29 hours and 55 minutes from New Jersey to California).
Albuquerque, New Mexico; arrival: August 21, 1930, 3:13 pm Mountain Time
Columbus, Ohio; arrival: August 23, 1930, 3:35 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time); departure: August 24, 1930, ~8:00 a.m.
Roosevelt Field, Long Island in Garden City, New York; arrival August 25, 1930, 4:03 pm, est; elapsed time: 27 hours and 19 minutes, lowering the West to East record by 1 hour and 36 minutes. His total elapsed time for the round trip was 57 hours and 14 minutes.
Chicago, Illinois (to attend National Air Races).