Yankee Squadron

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Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) in 1930
Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940) in 1930

The Yankee Squadron was a group of mercenary American military aviators who flew for the Spanish Republican Air Force, during the Spanish Civil War.[1][2][3]

Contents

[edit] To Spain

In November of 1936, representatives of the Spanish Republic (Spanish Republicans, or Loyalists) began a campaign to hire American pilots to fight in the Spanish Civil War.[4] They used a New York lawyer to find American pilots.[5][6] Time magazine reported on December 21, 1936 that six U.S. fliers were on the ocean liner SS Normandie, headed for Spain, to join their leader, Bert Acosta. They were to be paid $1,500 a month, plus $1,000 for each "White" plane destroyed. [1]

Time reported that the six men were: "[h]ilariously celebrating in the ship's bar of the Normandie with their first advance pay checks from Spain's Radical Government... en route last week for Madrid to join Bert Acosta, pilot of Admiral Byrd's transatlantic flight, in doing battle against Generalissimo Francisco Franco's White planes."[7]

British and French were given two-weeks of training, but the Americans were expected to fly as soon as they arrived.[1]

They abandoned plans for a Christmas party with their wives at Biarritz, in France, and instead planned to raid Burgos, Franco's headquarters. They planned to drop incendiary bombs that they described as "Messages of Christmas Cheer for the boys in Burgos." [8][9] The Fascists bombed Madrid on Christmas Eve.[10]

Frederic Ives Lord wrote:

I've had a wing fold up at a thousand feet while sitting on a dud parachute. I've been backed up against a wall looking down the rifle barrels of a firing squad. I've felt the automatic of my own commanding officer poked in my ribs. While being smuggled from Spain into France to visit my wife, I've had a speed boat pilot killed by Fascist bullets in the Bay of Biscay. I've fought half a dozen German pursuit planes in the air with an orchestra leader as a gunner. And of all places to be during a bomb raid I was there - locked up in jail - and with my wife. And these events have not been an accumulation of my war service in France, or Russia, or Mexico, but happened during the past few months while serving as a pilot with the Government forces in Spain. ... A Spanish pilot, Jose Galarza, bailed out from a crippled ship, during a fight, and landed safely in Franco's line. But the next day a Junkers bomber droned over our field and dropped a box. It contained the chopped up cadaver of Jose ... Lafayette! Pulaski! Rochambeau! Who were they? Glorious foreign volunteers who aided us in time of need. We name bridges, boats, and towns after them now. Our kids read about them in our histories. ... And over in Spain foreign volunteers are fighting that a friendly democratic nation may survive. In most instances those volunteers came from the army of unemployed in their countries where they were without hope. In all cases they are highly skilled technical men. Their hope is a new lease on life; but the usual reward has been a nameless grave. ...[11]

[edit] Return to United States

Four of them resigned and returned to the United States in January.[12][1] The Associated Press reported that "the flyers protested they were given nothing but unarmed sports planes with which to fight, while Russian pilots were assigned "regular American army planes."[3] The Spanish Air Force had no US-built planes; the main fighters used by the Republicans during the war were the Soviet-built Polikarpov I-15 and I-16. The latter was often mistaken for the Boeing P-26, but was not related to it.[13][14] The flyers said both the socialist and fascist air forces in Spain were staffed almost entirely by foreigners.[3]

The fliers later told the Washington Post that they had quit because "'it would be suicide to continue' and because their actions 'might not be in tune with the spirit of neutrality'... While other airmen — British and French — were afforded a two-week courtesy for training, American fliers were just shown to loyalist hangars, given a plane and ordered to do their stuff. 'We were flying old crates,' Acosta said, 'while other nationalists[sic] were given modern ships. But for the protection afforded us by Soviet pursuit planes we would not be alive now to tell you this tale.'"[1]

Eddie August Schneider explained his motives in flying for the Republic: "I was broke, hungry, jobless ... yet despite the fact that all three of us are old-time aviators who did our part for the development of the industry, we were left out in the cold in the Administration’s program of job making. Can you blame us for accepting the lucrative Spanish offer?"[1]The flyers had their passports confiscated, and they were to be returned when they attested that they had never withdrawn their allegiance to the United States.[15]

The flyers claimed that they were not paid what was promised them by the Spanish Government. Acosta and Berry started legal proceedings against the Spanish steamship Mar Cantabrico to try and collect the back pay that was due each of them.[13] The consul general for the Spanish government, Luis Careaga, arrived in the US and paid some of the money, and declared that they were now paid in full.[16] Their lawyer, Lewis Landes, claimed Acosta and Berry were still owed $1,500 and Schneider $1,200.[13]

[edit] Members

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "3 U.S. Airmen Here to Explain Aid to Loyalists; Acosta, Berry, Schneider Fly to Capital With Their Attorney.", Washington Post, January 20, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Back from the broken harvests of the bloody Spanish war, the famed triumvir of American air fighters – Bert Acosta, Gordon Berry and Eddie Schneider – flew into Washington Airport yesterday all set to do some tall explaining to the Federal Government." 
  2. ^ a b "Flier Says Lawyer Sent Him to Spain.", New York Times, January 16, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "Schneider names New Yorker as giving him ticket to join loyalist army. Promised $1,500 a month, but he was never paid, so he quit, witness declares — tells story to U.S. officials. Eddie Schneider, 25-year-old aviator, who recently returned to the United States ... said yesterday that a New York lawyer had negotiated with him for his services abroad. Schneider, who began his career as a flier in 1928, appeared at the Federal Building, where he was questioned by John F. Dailey Jr., Chief Assistant United States Attorney." 
  3. ^ a b c "American Aviators Through with Spain", Associated Press, January 6, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "Paris (AP) Four disillusioned American aviators announced today they were through with Spain and furthermore, they were through with civil wars. The four — Bert Acosta, Frederick Lord, Gordon Berry and Eddie Schneider — had led the Spanish socialist government's "Yankee Squadron" on the Basque front in the far north. But, they said, they were not paid, and money was their only reason for joining up." 
  4. ^ "4 Americans in Spain to Fly for Madrid. Acosta and Three Mates Reach Valencia to Take Course in Military Aviation.", New York Times, November 21, 1936. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "Bert Acosta, one of this country's leading racing pilots, and four other fliers from fields in the Newark district have arrived at Valencia, Spain, where they will go through a hurried course in military flying before taking the air against the Rebels, it was revealed here yesterday. ..." 
  5. ^ "U.S. Socialists Sift Volunteers To Fight Rebels. Federal Inquiry Gaining Impetus. Ambulance Unit Sails.", Washington Post via Associated Press, January 17, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "New York, January 16, 1937. A personnel committee began sifting applicants who want to fight for the Spanish loyalist government today, while Federal officials continued their investigation into possible law violations in recruiting Americans for military service in Spain." 
  6. ^ "Aviator Says New York Attorney Is Leftist Agent. Several Indictments Are Planned in Enlistment of Fliers for Spain.", Washington Post via Associated Press, January 16, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "New York, January 15, 1937. Back from a month of dropping bombs on behalf of the Spanish loyalist government, Eddie Schneider, Jersey City, New Jersey, aviator, said today he was signed up by a New York lawyer to serve in the Spanish war at $1,500 a month." 
  7. ^ "Pilots, Death, Plebiscite.", Time (magazine), December 21, 1936. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. 
  8. ^ "Uneasy Christmas.", Time (magazine), January 4, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. 
  9. ^ "Bert Acosta's Flyers Ravage Rebels' Base.", The Washington Post, December 25, 1936. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. 
  10. ^ "Christmas Eve Raid on Madrid Spreads Panic. Loyalists' Gunboats Seize German Ship With 'Contraband.'", Washington Post via United Press, December 25, 1936. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "Madrid, December 24, 1936. Fascist planes staged a Christmas Eve raid on Madrid tonight, showering bombs on citizens as they went to shell-torn churches to sing the "Misa del Gallo" in praise of Christ's birth." 
  11. ^ So I'm a Military Prostitute. Raab Collection with Frederic Ives Lord auction of Spring 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-25.
  12. ^ "Yankee Fliers Quit.", Washington Post, January 7, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. 
  13. ^ a b c d Taylor, Foster Jay (1971). The United States and the Spanish Civil War. Octagon Books. ISBN 0374978492. “American fighting in Spain dramatically ... Two American flyers, Bert Acosta and Gordon Berry, instituted legal proceedings against the Spanish steamship Mar Cantabrico in an effort to collect $1,200 in back pay due them by the Spanish Government. ... It was stated in an official American quarter that no American planes of any kind were being used in the Spanish Civil War.” 
  14. ^ Gordon, Yefim (2002). Polikarpov's I-16 Fighter: Its Forerunners and Progeny. ISBN 1857801318. 
  15. ^ "The Post's New Yorker", Washington Post, September 22, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "The State Department is still holding up the passport of Capt. Eddie Schneider, the holder of the junior transcontinental flying record, because be flew for the loyalists in Spain. Bert Acosta and Gordon Berry also can't get their passports, for the same reason ... The Government officials assured Schneider that they would issue the passport ... on condition that he secure affidavits from Acosta and Berry, attesting ... that Schneider never foreswore allegiance to America." 
  16. ^ "Fliers Fully Paid, Spain's Agent Says. Declares Terms Of Contracts Were Met And No Money Is Now Due Them. Denial By Their Lawyer. He Asserts Acosta, Schneider And Berry Got Some Funds On Friday, But Not Enough.", New York Times, January 17, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "While there were no developments yesterday in the United States Attorney's investigation of the procurement of Americans for service in Spain, the acting consul general for Spain and the attorney for American aviators who served the Loyalist cause issued conflicting statements regarding the pay they received." 
  17. ^ a b c d Knoblaugh, H. Edward (1937). Correspondent in Spain. Sheed and Ward. “I knew Bert Acosta, Freddy Lord, Eddie Semons, Eddie Schneider, Gordon Barry and several other of the American pilots at Valencia. They were a jolly, ...” 
  18. ^ "Lanphier was not in Spain.", New York Times, February 6, 1937. Retrieved on 2007-08-21. "In the late editions of The New York Times of January 16, 1937, and in the early editions of January 17, there appeared an item concerning the return of Eddie Schneider, aviator, from serving a month in the so-called Yankee Squadron with the Spanish Loyalists and Schneider's appearance at the Federal Building, where he was questioned by John F. Dailey Jr., Chief Assistant United States Attorney. ..." 
  19. ^ a b Lincoln Brigade archives at the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. New York University. Retrieved on 2007-06-14. “Bert Blanchard Acosta; George F. Berry; Frank I. Frederick Lord; Eddie August Schneider; Eddie Semons”
  20. ^ "4 Americans in Spain to Fly for Madrid. Acosta and Three Mates Reach Valencia to Take Course in Military Aviation.", New York Times, November 21, 1936, Saturday. Retrieved on 2007-09-25. "Bert Acosta, one of this country's leading racing pilots, and four other fliers from fields in the Newark district have arrived at Valencia, Spain, where they will go through a hurried course in military flying before taking the air against the Rebels, it was revealed here yesterday." 
  21. ^ a b Bridgeman, Brian (1989). The Flyers: The Untold Story of British and Commonwealth Airmen in the Spanish Civil War. ISBN 1854210548. “Gordon Berry, a 39 year old flying and drinking companion of Acosta, who had also served in the RAF towards the end of World War I. ... According to a story that appeared in The Star newspaper on 25 March 1937 and other sources, Edwin Semons ... Only Edwin Semons, who had helped to recruit the others in the USA and had journeyed to Spain with them, had not gone to the Northern Front.” 
  22. ^ There is a Gordon Berry born 7 August 1898 and died May 1968 in Roxbury, Massachusetts in the Social Security Death Index, but it doesn't appear to be him
  23. ^ There is an Edwin L. Semons listed in the California Death Index and the Social Security Death Index as born on 23 August 1910 and dying on March 9, 1976 in San Rafael, California. This would make him just a year older than Eddie Schneider. He was a clerk in New York in 1930, and in WWI he was a salesman when he enlisted in the Army.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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