Eddie August Henry Schneider 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.
Schneider on September 10, 1930, in Detroit, Michigan, for the National Air Races
Eddie August Schneider shaking the hand of Richard Bronaugh Barnitz in Los Angeles, California, on August 21, 1930
Schneider landing at Roosevelt Field on August 25, 1930, after completing round trip transcontinental flight
Schneider with a hot cup of coffee from his sister Alice Schneider Harms (1913–2002) on August 25, 1930
Floyd Bennett Field is an airfield in the Marine Park neighborhood of southeast Brooklyn in New York City, along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The airport originally hosted commercial and general aviation traffic before being used as a naval air station. Floyd Bennett Field is currently part of the Gateway National Recreation Area's Jamaica Bay Unit, and is managed by the National Park Service (NPS). While no longer used as an operational commercial, military, or general aviation airfield, a section is still used as a helicopter base by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), and one runway is reserved for hobbyists flying radio-controlled aircraft.
Floyd Bennett Field in 2006
A Bell HTL-1 taking off near a Grumman Albatross prototype at Floyd Bennett Field (1948)
A concrete runway at Floyd Bennett Field
A U.S. Coast Guard Curtiss SOC-4 Seagull at Floyd Bennett Field