Somewhere in New Guinea, 1943. Official caption: “Displaying all the traits of a true air ace, Second Lieutenant Edwin A. Schneider of Passaic, N.J., shot down three of 23 Japanese aircraft destroyed by American fighters on February 6 over Wau, New Guinea. The enemy formation was defeated without the loss of an American fighter plane. On the wing is Schneider’s crew chief, Sergent R.D. Lathem of Canton, Georgia.”
U.S. Air Force Number B23581AC is now in the National Archives, 342-FH 001123.
Note Schneider’s aircraft, a Bell P-39 Aircobra (a P-400 variant, you can tell by the long, skinny 20mm cannon in the nose rather than the stubby 37mm of other P-39s), was an obsolete type that had seen hard service from Pearl Harbor through the Aleutians and the Solomons because, well, it was all the USAAF had besides the equally out-performed P-40 Warhawk. Still, it could be very effective in ground support and against low-flying Japanese bombers.
Schneider was assigned to the “Red Devils” of the 40h Fighter Squadron, which, along with the 39th FS and 41st FS was part of the 35th Fighter Group.
The Devils arrived in Australia in February 1942 and were soon flying intercepts over Port Moresby, New Guinea, with their first victory in May. They would continue operating their P-39s from New Guinea throughout 1942 and 1943, with the good 2Lt Schneider and fellow devils Capt. John Clapper, Lts. Carl E. Nelson, Nathan Smith, Phil Wolf, and Robert G. Allison each downing an intercepted Japanese bomber over Finschhafen on this day in 1943, some 80 years ago.
It would be one of the 40th’s last P-39 victories, as they began transitioning into the much more powerful P-47 Thunderbolt in December and finally to P-51s in 1945.
In all, the 40th destroyed 113 Japanese planes in aerial combat; 51 were shot down by P-39s, 55 by P-47s, and seven by P-51s during WWII.
The squadron produced five aces, with Schneider coming up short with “just” four kills across 262 combat missions involving 572 combat hours. The reason he didn’t get his fifth was likely because he was sent back stateside in 1944 to become an instructor.
He did see the elephant again, however. Graduating to jets, Schiender transitioned to the USAF in 1947 and would fly F-94s in combat over Korea with the 319th FIS.
Colonel Edwin A. Schneider passed away on December 28, 1969.