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. His plane was a

Cessna Model AW The Cessna Model A is a 1920s American high-wing four-seat tourer built by the Cessna Aircraft Company, the first in a long line of high-wing single-engined monoplanes. Design and development The first Cessna design built in any numbers was the ...

with a Warner-Scarab engine, one of only 48 built, that he called "The Kangaroo". He set the east-to-west, then the west-to-east, and the combined round trip record. He was the youngest certificated pilot in the United States, and the youngest certified airplane mechanic. He was a pilot in the Spanish Civil War in the Yankee Squadron. 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

Eddie August Henry 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 Bielefeld () is a city in the Ostwestfalen-Lippe Region in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population of 341,755, it is also the most populous city in the administrative region (''Regierungsbezirk'') of Detmold and the ...

. His mother was Inga Karoline Eldora Pedersen (1882–1927), who was born in

Farsund, Norway is a municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Lister. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Farsund. Farsund is a coastal municipality in the far southwestern part of Norway ...

.United States

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

for Emil August Schneider from April 14, 1921 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 Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.delicatessen. Eddie attended

William L. Dickinson High School William L. Dickinson High School is a four-year comprehensive community public high school located in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States, serving students in ninth through twelfth grades as part of the Jersey City Public Sch ...

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. His mother died In 1927 after which he, his father, and sister visited Bielefeld and Farsund to visit with relatives. In Germany Eddie went on a plane ride from Hamburg to Hanover and then aviation became his obsession. In 1928–1929 he trained at Roosevelt Field on Long Island and became the youngest person in the United States to receive a commercial pilot certificate. That same year he also received a mechanics certificate, becoming the youngest certificated airplane mechanic in New York. In April 1930 Eddie was living in Hempstead,

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

with Carl Schneider (1898–?) who was also working as a mechanic. Eddie's father bought him a used, red, 1927

monoplane with tail number C9092. It already had been flown five hundred thousand air miles. He called it "the kangaroo".

Transcontinental air speed record

Eddie reported that he intended to fly to the Pacific coast and back on July 30, 1930. On August 25, 1930 he set the round-trip

transcontinental air speed record A transcontinental flight is a non-stop passenger flight from one side of a continent to the other. The term usually refers to flights across the United States, between the East and West Coasts. History The first transcontinental multi-stop ...

for pilots under the age of twenty-one years in his

Cessna Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing c ...

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. His total elapsed time for the round trip was 57 hours and 14 minutes, breaking the preceding record for the round trip.

Frank Herbert Goldsborough Francis Herbert Goldsborough (July 16, 1910 – July 16, 1930) was a record-holding aviator who died in a plane crash in Vermont on his 20th birthday. Early years Goldsborough was born in Washington, D.C. His father was Brice Goldsborough, who di ...

held the previous record which was 62 hours and 58 minutes. When Eddie landed in New York on August 25, 1930, his first words were to his father: "Hello Pop, I made it." He was carrying letters from the Mayor

John Clinton Porter __NOTOC__ John Clinton Porter (April 4, 1871 – May 27, 1959) was a U.S. political figure. The ''Los Angeles Times'' wrote that he represented a "unique mixture of reform politics and xenophobic Protestant populism hattook him quite literall ...

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 The Ford Reliability Tour, properly called "The National Air Tour for the Edsel B. Ford Reliability Trophy", was a series of aerial tours sponsored in part by Ford from 1925 to 1931 and re-created in 2003. Top prize was the Edsel Ford Reliabilit ...

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

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.

Marriage

In 1932 he went to work for the

Hoover Air League The National Hoover for President League was established in the United States in 1928 and existed through the 1930s. The league was established in 1928 by the Republican National Committee. Soon after its creation it was disavowed by the Republ ...

as co-director of the Aviation Division. 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 Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

. 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 Droyer's Point is a section of Jersey City, New Jersey at Newark Bay that was the site of the Jersey City Airport and later of Roosevelt Stadium, both of which were demolished. It has become a residential and commercial district. Geography In the ...

and ran his flying school from there until the field was converted into a

sports stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

using

WPA WPA may refer to: Computing *Wi-Fi Protected Access, a wireless encryption standard *Windows Product Activation, in Microsoft software licensing *Wireless Public Alerting (Alert Ready), emergency alerts over LTE in Canada * Windows Performance Ana ...

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 Newark Bay is a tidal bay at the confluence of the Passaic and Hackensack Rivers in northeastern New Jersey. It is home to the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the largest container shipping facility in Port of New York and New Jersey, t ...

, 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: He was living at 50 Jones Street in Jersey City at the time he was recruited. 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. Another American flyer,

Hilaire du Berrier Hilaire du Berrier (November 1, 1906 – October 12, 2002) was an American barnstorming pilot, mercenary adventurer, journalist, and spy. He wrote for a number of publications, mostly right-wing and far-right, including his own monthly news ...

, was already is Spain by time they arrived. Frederic Ives Lord became their squadron commander, and he tried to convince the Loyalist authorities that the planes they were given were too dilapidated to fly. When the commandant insisted that the planes were safe, Lord took him up for a test flight, and at two thousand feet up one of the four wings broke off. The commandant motioned Lord to climb higher so they could escape by using their parachutes. Lord wanted to try to land with the remaining lower wings intact. He landed the plane safely but he was arrested and was going to be shot. The airplane mechanics intervened and explained that his loss of the wing was accidental, not intentional. Things became so difficult and dangerous for the Americans that each time one of them landed they pulled out their pistols in case someone was coming to arrest them. They went to

Valencia, Spain Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...

to complain to the air ministry, but the ministry was only interested in reading to the flyers the reports on Bertrand Blanchard Acosta and his heavy drinking. Berry, Lord, Acosta and Schneider decided it was time to demobilize and return to the United States. Acosta, Schneider and Lord planned to escape from Bilbao to Biarritz, France by motorboat after they had been refused a promised Christmas leave. Their plan was discovered and the pilot of their boat was arrested and executed. The pilots were then jailed for 18 hours. 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:

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?

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 Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Count ...

in New Jersey, he then moved to

Jackson Heights, Queens Jackson Heights is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the borough of Queens in New York City. Jackson Heights is neighbored by North Corona to the east, Elmhurst to the south, Woodside to the west, northern Astoria ( Ditmars-Steinw ...

, when the American Airlines eastern terminal had moved to LaGuardia Airport. Eddie registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 when he was living at 32–50 73rd Street in Jackson Heights, Queens in New York.H. V. Pat Reilly; Balloon to the Moon (1992);

Death

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). They were flying at about 600 feet, about to land, when United States Navy Reserve pilot Kenneth A. Kuehner, age 25, of Minster, Ohio struck the tail assembly of Eddie's plane with his Boeing-Stearman Model 75. Eddie's plane went into a spin and crashed into Deep Creek, just off of Flatbush Avenue. Both Herzog and Schneider were dead at the scene of impact. The bodies were taken to King's County Hospital, and Eddie's cause of death was listed as "crushed chest & abdomen; hemothorax & hemoperitoneum in aeroplane crash". The accident was investigated by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and Kuehner was ruled at fault for flying too low and failing to observe the traffic in front of him. The air traffic controllers were also chastised. 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 ...

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 The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

. 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

(National Air Tour) Detroit, Michigan; Plane number 21. Great Lakes Trophy, and eighth place overall. *1931

(National Air Tour) Detroit, Michigan; Plane number 17. First place for single engine planes, third place overall.

Junior transcontinental air speed record holders

*1930

. *1930 Eddie August Schneider. *1930

Robert Nietzel Buck Robert Nietzel Buck (January 29, 1914 – April 14, 2007) broke the junior transcontinental air speed record in 1930 and for a time was the youngest licensed pilot in the United States. Early life He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, on Janu ...

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 Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

departure: August 15, 1930, 3:21 pm. * St. Louis, Missouri; arrival: August 15, 1930 7:05 pm,

Central Standard Time The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...

; departure: August 16, 1930, 1:25 pm; elapsed time: 8 hours 38 minutes. * Wichita, Kansas; arrival: August 16, 1930, 7:45 pm. * Santa Rosa, New Mexico aka Anton Chico, New Mexico. *

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding in ...

; 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). *

; arrival: August 21, 1930, 3:13 pm Mountain Time *

; arrival: August 23, 1930, 3:35 p.m. (Eastern Standard Time); departure: August 24, 1930, ~8:00 a.m. *

Roosevelt Field, Long Island Roosevelt Field is a former airport, located east-southeast of Mineola, Long Island, New York. Originally called the Hempstead Plains Aerodrome, or sometimes Hempstead Plains field or the Garden City Aerodrome, it was a training field (Hazel ...

Garden City, New York Garden City is a village located on Long Island in Nassau County New York. It is the Greater Garden City area's anchor community. The population was 23,272 at the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within ...

; 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).