Brooklyn Eagle/1940/Training Flights Scored As Fatal Crash Is Probed

Training Flights Scored As Fatal Crash Is Probed. Are to Be Expected At Airports Like Bennet Field, McKenzie Says. Investigation into the plane crash which yesterday took the lives of Eddie Schneider, flying soldier of fortune, and a student passenger was launched today at Floyd Bennett Field. Schneider's plane crashed into the waters of Deep Creek, near the field, but the navy plane with which it collided pulled out of a spin and landed safely. The third accident in two weeks in which a navy plane based at Floyd Bennett Field was involved, it brought the comment from Dock Commissioner John McKenzie that such accidents are to be expected "where there are training flights at an airport." "That is the point that Mayor LaGuardia has been making," he said, "in his efforts to keep training away from commercial fields." Assistant District Attorney Joseph Hanley started one investigation and a naval board of inquiry, headed by Commander H. R. Bowes, was ordered convened by the Navy Department in Washington. Father of 3 Other Victim. Killed with Schneider was George Wilson Herzog, 37, a builder, of 535 N. 2d Street, New Hyde Park, who was married and the father of three children. Herzog, holder of a commercial pilot's license, was taking a "refresher course." Schneider, who was 29, lived at 32-50 93d Street, Jackson Heights, with his wife. He was an instructor for the Archie Baxter Flying School at the field. Flying at 15, he set a junior cross-country flying record at 19 and later fought with the Loyalists in Spain. The navy biplane with which Schneider's craft collided was piloted by Ensign Kenneth A. Kuehner, 25, of Minster, Ohio. With him was Frank Newcomer, 25, of Rochester, Ohio, a seaman, second class, who was receiving his second flying lesson. Both planes were circling for a landing when the crash occurred. Schneider's plane, according to witnesses, first straightened out, then plummeted into the water as a wing tore loose.