Eddie Schneider

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Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) circa 1930

Eddie August Schneider (October 20, 1911 - December 23, 1940) set the transcontinental airspeed record for pilots under the age of twenty-one in 1930.

He was born at 2nd Avenue and 17th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA to Emil Schneider, a banker born in Germany; and Inga Pedersen, who was born in Farsund, Norway. Eddie graduated from Dickinson High School in Jersey City in 1927, the same year that his mother died. That same year the family visited Germany and Norway to visit with relatives. In Germany Eddie went on an airplane ride and aviation became his obsession. In 1929 he trained at Roosevelt Field on Long Island and became the youngest person in the United States to receive a commercial pilot's license. That same year he also received a mechanics license.

The New York Times reported on July 30, 1930 that Eddie intended to fly to the Pacific coast and back that August. On August 25, 1930 Eddie set the round-trip transcontinental record for pilots under the age of twenty-one years in his Cessna. The elapsed time was 57 hours, and 14 minutes between Los Angeles, California and Roosevelt Field in Brooklyn, New York. When he landed his first words were to his father: "Hello Pop, I made it". The previous record holder was Frank H. Goldsborough who died in a plane crash on July 16, 1930. In 1931 Eddie participated in the National Air Tour and he won the Great Lakes Trophy. In 1932 he worked for the Hoover Air League.

He married Gretchen Hahnen in New York City on June 02, 1934. Gretchen was originally from Des Moines, Iowa. She was a member the Jersey City Young Woman's Christian Association (YWCA) and was director of the Aviation Club of The Jersey Journal, Junior Club Magazine. Eddie met her at an Aviation Club function. In 1935 Eddie leased the Jersey City Airport and ran his flying school from there until the field was converted into a stadium.

On November 11, 1936, Eddie left for Spain to fly in the Yankee Squadron for the Spanish Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War. Eddie was never paid what he was promised and he returned to the US in January of 1937. Others who flew for the loyalists included: Bert Acosta, Gordon Berry, and Frederick Lord.

In June of 1940 Eddie began work for American Airlines at Newark Airport in New Jersey. He then moved to Jackson Heights on Long Island, when American Airlines eastern terminal had moved to LaGuardia Field. He took a job as a civilian instructor for the US Army at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn with the Archie Baxter Flying Service.

On December 23, 1940, Eddie was killed in a training accident at Floyd Bennett Field at age 29 when he was training George W. Herzog. He was flying at about 600 feet, about to land when Navy pilot Kenneth A. Kuehner, age 25, of Minister, Ohio struck the tail assembly of Eddie's Piper Cub. Eddie's plane went into a spin and crashed into Deep Creek just off Flatbush Avenue. Both Herzog and Schneider were dead at the scene of impact. The bodies were taken to King's County Hospital.