Eddie August Schneider

Eddie August Schneider
Schneider on September 10, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan for the National Air Races
Junior transcontinental airspeed record holder
Preceded by	Frank Goldsborough
Succeeded by	Robert Nietzel Buck
Personal details
Born	Eddie August Henry Schneider (1911-10-20)October 20, 1911 Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Died	December 23, 1940(1940-12-23) (aged 29) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Mid-air collision
Resting place	Fairview Cemetery
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Gretchen Hahnen (1902–1986) (m. 1934; his death 1940)
Parents	Emil August Schneider (1886–1955) Inga Karoline Pedersen (1882–1927)
Education	William L. Dickinson High School
Occupation	Aviator
Known for	Transcontinental record National Air Tour Great Lakes Trophy Yankee Squadron
Signature
Military career
Allegiance	Spanish Republic
Service/branch	Yankee Squadron
Years of service	1935-1936
Rank	Aviator
Battles/wars	Spanish Civil War

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 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.

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. 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 but was baptized as "Eddie".

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. His mother died In 1927 after which he, his father, and sister visited Bielefeld, Germany and Farsund, Norway 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 with Carl Schneider (1898–?) who was also working as a mechanic. Eddie's father bought him a used, red, 1927 Cessna Model AW monoplane with tail number C9092. It already had been flown five hundred thousand air miles. He called it "the kangaroo".