Eddie August Schneider on September 10, 1930 in Detroit Michigan for the National Air Race.

Eddie August Schneider on August 26, 1930 at the National Air Race in Chicago, Illinois. The image was scanned at 600 dpi, and compressed to 95 quality. "Record Holder at Air Races. August 26, 1930; Chicago, Illinois. Eddie Schneider, holder of the junior coast-to-coast flight record, as he appeared at the National Air Races in Chicago."

"Youngest Pilot in National Air Tour Wins High Honors. September 27, 1930; Detroit, Michigan. Eddie Schneider, holder of the junior trans-continental record and the youngest pilot entered in the 1930 National Air Tour, is shown receiving from D.V. Stratton, vice president of the Great Lakes Aircraft Corporation, the Great Lakes Trophy for ships less than 510 cubic inches displacement."

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) waving on August 24, 1930 at Roosevelt Field in Mineola, New York after setting three junior trans-continental records. Image scanned at 600 dpi and compressed to 95 quality. Image purchased on eBay.

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) with a hot cup of coffee from his sister Alice Schneider Harms (1913-2002) on August 25, 1930. "America's Junior Flying Champ Getting Some Sisterly Attention After Breaking Cross Country Record. August 25, 1930; Jersey City, New Jersey. Eddie Schneider, 18, Junior cross-country record holder, getting a nice, hot cup of coffee prepared by sister Alice at their Jersey City home. Young Schneider gulped down the coffee and rushed off to Roosevelt Field to hop off for the Chicago Air Races to seek more records. Earlier in the day Eddie delivered a letter to Mayor Hague from the Mayor of Los Angeles."

Photograph from the collection of Naida Muriel Freudenberg (1915-1998). © Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) archive, 2006.

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) Dickinson High School, Jersey City, New Jersey in 1927. Collection of Naida Muriel Freudenberg (1915-1998). © Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) archive, 2006.

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) tombstone at Fairview Cemetery, Fairview, New Jersey in Fairview, Bergen County, New Jersey. Image by Richard Arthur Norton (1958) on December 2, 2006.

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) in the New York Times on January 1, 1937: "Amazed By Acosta, Rebel Fliers Fled. American in Sports Ship Flew Into Midst of Foe Thinking They Were Russians. With stories of each other's adventures and none about their own, Bert Acosta, Gordon Berry, Eddie Schneider and Frederick Lord returned to Paris this morning from two months' experience in the civil war in Spain. ..."

"I Break a Record and have a Swell Time Besides by Eddie Schneider as told to Mary Bell Dann. October 1, 1931. Random notes on a two-way trip across the continent. From the beginning I had wanted to do something with my flying. Just being able to go up in the air and come down at the same spot wasn't very exciting. Airplanes are for going places quickly, safely and comfortably. I don't know why, but my longing had always been to go to the West Coast. First, because I had never been there, and then for various reasons you fly over all sorts of country on the way, and it is the best way to see the country. Then that is the longest distance you can go without hitting foreign country. Frank Goldsborough had made the old junior transcontinental record. Frank was killed in a very unfortunate and peculiar accident. When he returned from his cross-country flight he was touring around, got into had weather and landed in a low tree. His companion got out all right and so did Frank when a very strange thing happened. His reserve tank, which he carried under the ship fell and struck him in the head. It was the sort of thing that wouldn't happen once in a million times, but the average person never stopped to think that out. The idea got around that it wasn't safe for young fellows and girls to fly. Frank had believed in aviation for boys and girls of high school and college age as the greatest of sports. I wanted to prove he was right and be able to give people something to talk about in connection with junior aviation besides Frank's tough luck. Those ideas were all in the back of my mind, but I hadn't bean able to do anything about them. Then one day I went over to the Westfield Airport where Charlie Dann was and got to talking it over with him - I wished I had money to buy a ship. He was already sold on the idea of young fellows being in the air and had more young fellows at his school than at any other school in the country. We got thinking it over and he suggested that I get some of my friends to form a corporation to buy a half interest in a Cessna he had at his field. It was a cabin ship and the average passenger prefers to ride in an open ship for a short hop and it was too advanced for student training. It was cheap, the total purchase price would be less than half of the real value of the ship and it was in good shape. I knew it was a fast ship because I had followed in the papers when it raced and brought back cups from the different air meets it went in. Then Dad came across and backed me to the half interest in the ship. I could buy the other half interest when I got back with any prize money or advertising checks I received. It was a lucky break. Things began to happen with lightning-like rapidity. I took title around the tenth of August and was off the fourteenth. The reason for this was that the National Air Races were on during the last week in August in Chicago and I wanted to be there. I had two hours time in the ship before I headed west. There were many details to attend to, the engine had to be checked, there wasn't time for an overhaul and the boys at the field worked cheerfully until all hours of the night helping me. We didn't do any special streamlining to add to the top speed of the ship although I bet we could add an easy ten miles an hour by putting pants over the wheels and a cowling over the motor. It was just an ordinary commercial ship and I was glad I could help tell more folks that Papa Cessna builds an honest ship with remarkably clean lines and speed without the doo-dads. ..."

Marriage of Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) to Gretchen Hahnen (1902-1986) published in the New York Times on June 24, 1934: "Marriage Announced of Gretchen Hahnen. Jersey City Girl Wed to Eddie A. Schneider, Aviator, Here on June 2. Jersey City, June 23, 1934. - The marriage on June 2, 1934 of Gretchen Hahnen of Jersey City, New Jersey governor of the Women's International Aeronautic Association, and Eddie A. Schneider of Jersey City, who in 1928, at age of 16 was the youngest air pilot to hold a commercial license, was announced today. The couple was married at the NY Municipal Building. Miss Hahnen, daughter of Mrs. Zora M. Hahnen of Des Moines, Iowa, and Mr. Schneider met when Miss Hahnen was organizing the Jersey City Junior Aeronautical Association, of which Mr. Schneider was sponsor. In 1930 Mr. Schneider broke the transcontinental junior speed record by lowering the mark of the late Frank Goldsborough. Mr. Schneider won the Great Lakes Trophy in the Ford national reliability tour in 1930 and in the 1931 tour he won first place for single-motored planes. He was director of the aviation division of the Hoover Business League in 1932. After July 1 the couple will live in Jersey City. Mr. Schneider is the son of Emil A. Schneider of Norton Arlington."

"Schneider Makes Record Flight East. Pilot, 18, Cuts Goldsborough's Junior Coast-To-Coast Mark By 1 Hour. Lowers Round-Trip Time. Jersey City High School Boy Arrives From Los Angeles in 27 Hours 19 Minutes, Dodging Storm on Way. Roosevelt Field, Long Island; August 24, 1930. In his trim little Cessna monoplane Edward Schneider, 18-year-old high school student, roared across the field here this afternoon, descended in a series of tight spiral turns and touched his wheels at 4:03 to establish new junior transcontinental flying records. Despite two setbacks, one over Kansas when his compass refused to function, and another when a storm overtook him over the treacherous Alleghenies on today's non-stop leg from Columbus, Ohio, the youthful pilot set his flying time between Los Angeles and Roosevelt Field at 27 hours and 36 minutes the former mark of 29 hours 55 minutes set by Frank Goldsborough, who was killed recently in a crash in the White Mountains. Schneider was greeted by his father, Emil A. Schneider, of 114 Carleton Avenue, Jersey City, others of the family and 2,500 enthusiastic Sunday visitors to the field here. He started from Los Angeles last Thursday and made three overnight stops en route. On landing, he said that the storm was on its way here, and stood by while mechanics hurried his plane into a hanger. He said that he was too hungry to talk about his trip. Then when his hunger had been partially appeased by a sandwich the young pilot related his experiences on the last leg of his flight. Weather reports had not been too good when he was ready to take off from Columbus. He counted on an even chance to ‘get through,’ however, and pushed on with the knowledge that he was on the air mail route, with its emergency landing fields and better sectional airports at frequent intervals in case he were forced down. As he neared Uniontown, Pennsylvania, he had to leave the course about thirty miles to the south, he said, to avoid a severe storm which was then over Pittsburgh. As he came up over the Alleghenies, approaching Middletown from the west, a strong headwind was encountered which brought with it a strata of low-hanging clouds. He could not see the ground for a while, he said, as he flew above the clouds rather than hitting one of the mountains. With no landmarks to check by and no radio guidance, he headed for New York by compass and got his next land check near Stroudsbourg, Pennsylvania. Keeping the mail route under him, again he headed for New Brunswick and, finding visibility fair beneath him, he continued on over the flats of New Jersey, the Hudson and East rivers and the outlying sections of New York City. He maintained high attitude so he would be able to wheel and run from thickening weather which was approaching. A few moments after he landed here the skies darkened and mechanics and others on the field rushed their planes into hangers or took precautions to prevent them from being damaged in the approaching storm Schneider and his family left the field almost immediately and motored to their home in Jersey City. In addition to lowering Goldsborough’s record for the trip from Los Angeles to New York Schneider also broke the junior records for the east-west trip last week and the record for the round trip journey concluded today. He left Westfield, New Jersey, last week and, with several overnight stops en route, landed at Los Angeles in 29 hours and 55 minutes of flying time, 4 hours and 22 minutes faster than Goldsborough’s time over the same route. His flying time for the round trip was therefore 57 hours and 14 minutes, against his predecessor’s record of 62 hours and 58 minutes."

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) obituary in the Jersey Journal on December 25, 1940: "Local Pilot Killed. Eddie Schneider And Passenger Die in Crash. Eddie A. Schneider, 29, veteran pilot and former holder of the junior transcontinental speed record for airplanes, was instantly killed yesterday afternoon when a small monoplane in which he was giving a refresher course to another pilot was struck by U.S. Naval Reserve plane at Floyd Bennett Airport, Brooklyn. Schneider's plane, one wing sheared off, plummeted in a tight spin into an inlet of Jamaica Bay, causing instant death to Schneider and his student, George W. Herzog, 37. Schneider, a native of New York City was a resident of Jersey City until a few years ago. He became interested in aviation while still a student at Dickinson High School, Jersey City, causing him to leave school when 15 to go to work as a plane mechanic at old Roosevelt Field Hempstead, Long Island. Schneider during his career in aviation broke the East-West, West-East and round trip junior transcontinental records in 1930 in his famous red Cessna monoplane, when only 18. He crossed the continent from Westfield Airport, New Jersey, to Los Angeles in 29 hours and 41 minutes, breaking the record of the late Frank Goldsborough. Eddie was at one time the youngest licensed commercial pilot and competed in air races and meets with men far more experienced and older than he was, after carrying off first honors. In the Ford National Reliability Tours of 1930 and 1931. Schneider with his red Cessna, carried off the Great Lakes Trophy one year, and then took first place the next year. In one of the air tours a defect in a propeller caused the engine of his plane to break loose while flying over a mountainous section of Kentucky, and Schneider made a forced landing in a corn patch on a side of the mountain. A new engine was rushed to him and after an extremely difficult takeoff, which experienced airmen, said was not possible, he went on to win first place in the tour. Schneider in 1934 became the manager of the old Jersey City Airport at Droyers Point, operating the filed for a period of a little more than a year. While at the airport he taught many Hudson County students how to fly. Schneider had a narrow escape in 1935 when a Travelair biplane in which he and a student were taking off from the airport landed in Newark Bay after the motor suddenly went dead at 100 feet of attitude. The plane was only slightly damaged in the forced water landing. Schneider and the student Al Clemmings [sic], wading to shore. In 1936 Eddie with Bert Acosta and three other pilots, enlisted in the Yankee Escadrille of the Loyalist Air Corps in Spain. For several months Schneider was flying antiquated planes, which had been rigged up with racks, dropping bombs on military objectives of the Franco forces. Schneider finally became thoroughly disgusted with the Communist regime, which he said was directing the Loyalist forces, and after many difficulties, returned to this country. Since returning from Spain, Schneider, a licensed airplane mechanic since he was 15, worked for American Airlines, first at Newark Airport and then at La Guardia Airport, New York City, first as a mechanic, then as instrument inspector. About six months ago he resigned his post with American Airlines to take a position as student instructor with the Archie Baxter Flying Service teaching Civil Aeronautics Authority students to fly. Yesterday afternoon Schneider took Herzog, a resident of New Hyde Park, Long Island, up for a refresher course. Herzog, holder of a commercial license, had allowed the license to lapse, and was required to take dual flying time before his license would be renewed. Schneider was flying at about 600 feet altitude, coming in for a landing, when a United States Naval Reserve biplane piloted by Ensign Kenneth A. Kuehler, 25, of Rochester, Ohio, was observer, struck the tail assembly of Schneider's tandem Piper Cub. The tails surfaces and left wing of Schneider's plane were badly damaged and as the two planes separated after the mid-air collision, the small monoplane went in a tight spin, striking Deep Creek several hundred feet from Flatbush Avenue and sinking. The Naval Reserve plane was able to land at the airport. Airport emergency crews raced to the spot where Schneider's plane had submerged and the bodies of Schneider and Herzog were taken from the plane within a very few minutes after the crash. Attempts were made to to revive the two, but a Kings County Hospital ambulance intern pronounced both dead on arrival at the scene. It is believed that both were killed by the impact of the plane with the water. The bodies were taken to Kings County Hospital and Schneider will be released today and brought to Jersey City for funeral services. Herzog is survived by a widow and two small children. Schneider lived in Jersey City at 114 Carlton Avenue in the Hudson City section when he established the transcontinental records."

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) aboard the ship the President Lincoln on August 5, 1914 returning from Hamburg, Germany. He is with his father, mother, and sister.

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) obituary in the New York Times on December 24, 1940: "2 die as planes crash at field. Eddie Schneider, who started flying when he was 15 years old and set a junior transcontinental record in 1930 at the age of 18, was killed with a student passenger yesterday when their light training plane was in collision with a Naval Reserve plane, also on a training flight, just west of Floyd Bennett Field. The Naval Reserve plane landed safely at the field but Schneider's plane went into a spin, tore off a wing, and crashed into Deep Creek, a few hundred feet across Flatbush Avenue from the city airport in Brooklyn. Both Schneider and his passenger, George W. Herzog, 37, a contractor living at 535 North Second Street, New Hyde Park, Long Island, were dead when their bodies were pulled from the submerged wreckage. At the Naval Reserve base at Floyd Bennett Field it was said the Navy biplane, a Stearman trainer, had been piloted by Ensign Kenneth A, Kuehner, 25, of Minister, Ohio, with Second Class Seaman Frank Newcomer, of Rochester, Ohio, as a passenger. The right lower wing of the naval plane, the left upper wing and the propeller were damaged. The third accident, in two weeks in which a Naval Reserve plane based at Floyd Bennett Field was involved, it brought the comment from Dock Commissioner John McKenzie that it was the sort of thing to be expected 'where there are training: flights at an airport.' 'That is the point that Mayor La Guardia has been making'. Mr. McKenzie said, 'in his efforts to keep training away from commercial fields.' Police said the witnesses to the accident were agreed that the Naval Reserve plane was crossing above the plane piloted by Schneider, a high-wing Piper Tandem Cub monoplane, as the two approached the field for a landing 600 feet above Deep Creek, Schneider's plane went into a tight spin as the two planes disengaged after colliding, the witnesses said, appeared to straighten out and then plummeted into the water as its left wing tore loose. Many would-be rescuers were on the scene within, a few moments, including police, Coast Guardsmen and fliers from Floyd Bennett Field. The bodies of the two men were pulled quickly from the wreckage and onto a half-submerged barge near which the plane fell, but it appeared both had been killed when the plane hit the water. Joseph Hanley, first assistant district attorney of Kings County, opened an investigation at the scene and a naval board of inquiry, headed by Commander H. R. Bowes, was ordered convened by the Navy Department in Washington. Schneider lived at 32-50 Seventy-third Street, Jackson Heights, Queens. He leaves a widow. Herzog leaves a widow and two children. He had been flying some time, holding a limited commercial pilot's license, but had enrolled for a refresher course with the Archie Baxter Flying Service, Inc., owner of the plane. Schneider was an instructor at the school. The bodies of the two men were taken to Floyd Bennett Field pending funeral arrangements. Schneider first gained public attention as a flier in the Summer of 1930 when he announced plans for an attempt to break the junior transcontinental east-west record of 34 hours 57 minutes set the year before by 15-year-old Frank Goldsborough, who was later killed. Taking off from Westfield, New Jersey, August 14, he landed at Los Angeles four days later with a new elapsed time mark of 29 hours 55 minutes. He then flew the west-east passage in 27 hours 19 minutes to better Goldsborough's time for that flight and also for the round trip. He continued active in aviation, competing in National Air Tours, races, and as an instructor. He went to Spain in 1936 to fly for the Loyalists, but returned the next year without having collected the $1,500-a-month pay that was promised him. He and other American fliers were looked on with suspicion by many of the Loyalists, he said, because they were not Communists. Schneider had a narrow escape from death May 15, 1935, when the engine of his training plane failed and it fell into Newark Bay with him and a student passenger shortly after they had taken off from Jersey City Airport, of which he then was manager. Schneider's father, Emil, a Jersey City banker, financed his son's transcontinental flight after having first opposed his efforts to become a flier. The boy had quit school at 15 and worked as a mechanic at Roosevelt Field, Mineola, Long Island, and at the Westfield airport to secure money for flying lessons. He was the youngest licensed flier in the country when he received a limited commercial license shortly after his eighteenth birthday in 1929."

From left to right are: Maria Elizabeth Winblad (1895-1987); who is sitting in the lap of Ralph Freudenberg (1903-1980); Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (1891-1968) in the black tie; Sigrid Marie Andreassen (1905-1940) who later married Ralph Tandberg (1901-1995); and Klara Helene Shultz (1895-1973) who later married Edward A. Thompson I (1895-1935), and after his death, married John Muhlbruch (1905-1979). Sitting on the steps are: Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940); and his sister, Alice Violetta Schneider (1913-2002). On the right side of the picture are: Ada Augusta Freudenberg; Naida Muriel Freudenberg (1915-1998); Emil Schneider (1884-1955); and his wife Inga Petersen (1885-1928) circa 1917-1918 at an unknown home. There are two unknown women in chairs on the porch, one of them most likely is Mathilde Sophie Amalia Pedersen (1872-1949) aka Sophie Pedersen, the sister of Inga, who had married a Hans Andreas Carlsen Schultz (1867-1896) ans after his death, married Martin Andreassen (c1865-c1910) in Norway. Image from the collection of Maria Elizabeth Winblad (1895-1987). Other images from this series are in the collection of the Harms.

"Hilare du Berrier, Lord and Eddie Schneider Jr. [sic] (left to right) as the appear in Paris after completing their month of service for the Spanish Loyalists. Du Barrier and Lord stayed in Europe; Schneider returned to this country."

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) and Nancy Hopkins (1909-1997) at the 1930 National Air Tour in Chicago, Illinois on September 12, 1930.

Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) grave in Fairview Cemetery, Fairview, New Jersey on December 2, 2006. Image by Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ).

Death Certificate