Fred C. Schneiter was born 5 January 1926 in Tuscarawus County, OH., the son of Fred & Elise (Lengacher) Schneiter; died Wednesday, 18 September 2019 at the Bristol Village Health Care Center, Waverly, OH; with burial at the East Lawn Cemetery, Sugarcreek, OH.
Fred graduated from Sugarcreek Shanesville High School and the Ohio State University with a BS in Biological Science. Fred served as Fire Control on a B-29 in the Army Air Corps 483rd Bombardment Squadron of the 505th Bomb Group/314th Bomb Wing stationed on Tinian Island.[2] He was recalled into the US Air Force during the Korean Conflict and was stationed in Germany. Fred retired from Transilwrap and in retirement enjoyed woodworking and the Computer Club at Bristol Village in Waverly, Ohio.
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[1] 1930 FEDERAL CENSUS - enumeration Sugarcreek Village, Sugarcreek Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, U.S.A.
=====================================================================================================================LN HN FN .LAST FIRST ..RELATION-..OWN....................................MAR....YOUR......FATHERS..MOTHERS
..................NAME.NAME......SHIP...........RENT SEX RACE..AGE..STAT....BIRTHPL....BIRTHPL ..BIRTHPL....OCCUP.
======================================================================================================================
33.......109..Schneiter,.Fred.......Head.......................M.....W......37.......M......Switzerland....Switzerland...Switzerland...Cheesemaker
34..............Schneiter, Elise.......Wife.......................F......W.....36........M......Switzerland....Switzerland...Switzerland...Housekeeping
35..............Schneiter, Helen.E...Daughter...................F......W....11.........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland.
36..............Schneiter, Lucy.J....Daughter..................F.......W....10.........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
37..............Schneiter, Elise L....Daughter.................F........W.....8.........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
38..............Schneiter, Mary E....Daughter................F........W......6.........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
39..............Schneiter, Fred.......Son........................M......W.......4........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
40..............Schneiter, John W...Son........................M......W......2.........S......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
1940 FEDERAL CENSUS - enumeration Sugarcreek Village, Sugarcreek Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio, U.S.A.
=====================================================================================================================LN HN FN .LAST FIRST ..RELATION-..OWN....................................MAR....YOUR......FATHERS..MOTHERS
..................NAME.NAME......SHIP...........RENT SEX RACE..AGE..STAT....BIRTHPL....BIRTHPL ..BIRTHPL....OCCUP.
======================================================================================================================
25.......117..Schneiter,.Fred.......Head.......................M.....W......47.......M......Switzerland....Switzerland...Switzerland...Cheesemaker
26..............Schneiter, Elise.......Wife.......................F......W.....46........M......Switzerland....Switzerland...Switzerland...Housekeeping
27..............Schneiter, Helen.....Daughter...................F......W....21.........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland...Bookeeper auto store
28..............Schneiter, Lucy......Daughter..................F.......W....19.........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
29..............Schneiter, Fred.......Son........................M......W.....14........S.......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
30..............Schneiter, Charles...Son........................M......W.....12.........S......Ohio.............Switzerland...Switzerland
[2] Fred Schneiter's observations on his WW II service
The following tribute to Fred Schneiter was put together by his nephew Jim Schneiter.
Fred Schneiter flew 26 combat missions in a Boeing B-29 bomber from the island of Tinian to 'The Empire' (Japan) from the spring of 1945 until the end of the war in August, 1945. For his service during those 26 missions he was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon with two Bronze Stars, an Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, a Distinguished Unit Badge with one Oak Leaf Cluster and the World War II Victory Ribbon. The name of his plane was “Dangerous Lady.” By the spring of 1945, the Japanese did not take prisoners; they executed any American airmen who were shot down. Fred and his crew faced this incredible danger on every mission that they flew
Fred was the central defensive fire control director in the bomber. In that role he operated five remote controlled .50 caliber machine gun turrets in the mid-section of the plane. The B-29 was equipped with a state-of-the-art, first ever computer-controlled remote gun firing system that operated the five .50 caliber machine gun turrets. He was stationed just aft of the bomb bays. He sat in the elevated seat labeled “Upper Gunner’s Seat” in the diagram below:
A 'typical' mission had an afternoon takeoff (1600 - 1830 hours) so as to arrive over the target between 2400 - 0300 hours. The Japanese did not have a lot of night fighters so it was safer to make the bombing runs in the middle of the night. The average flight lasted between 16 - 18 hours (his longest mission lasted 21 hours). On two occasions they had to make emergency landings on Iwo Jima for fuel because they ran into severe headwinds on their return flight (below is a photo of an emergency landing on Iwo Jima).
In early November, 2010 I sent Fred some recent photos that were taken in May, 2010 of Tinian Island where he was based in 1945.
This was Fred’s response to my email on November 19, 2010:
These are amazing photos of Tinian Island! Looking at
these beautiful pictures, I can't believe that I the last time that I flew off
of that runway on Tinian was 65 years ago this month when we flew back to the
States.....
The 58th BW (USAAF 58th Bomb Wing) which I was a part of flew to Tinian from
China in mid-May in 1945. Hauling gasoline over the HUMP (India to China over
the Himalaya Mountains using C-46s and C-47s) to fuel B-29 raids from China was
a losing proposition, hence our move to Tinian.
North Field on Tinian Island was comprised of four 8,500 foot long runways. I
think that the 2 strips shown in the second photo are the 58th Bomb Wing runways
that we used. The photo that I attached to this email was taken in the summer of
1945 and it shows all of the northern-half of Tinian Island. Our hardstand for
our B-29 can be seen in the bottom left-hand portion of the photo.
Jim, the "bomb pits" pictured in the photos were actually elevators sunk into
the coral/soil of Tinian Island. The pits were flush with the hardstand surface
and they would depress, with the bomb on the elevator, into the pit. They would
position the B-29s (first the "Enola Gay" for the Hiroshima mission and later
"Bock's Car" for the Nagasaki mission) over the pit and elevate the bomb into
the bomb bay (the stanchions and bomb hoists in a B-29 were not strong enough to
lift these bombs - 10,000 pounds each - into the bomb bay).
Our B-29 ("Dangerous Lady") was on the hardstand which was then altered by the
509th Composite Squadron to put an elevator into place for the atomic bomb
missions (as seen in the pictures below). Our 'new' hardstand after the 509th
took our original then became the first one off of the East end of the runway
(bottom left runway in the attached 1945 photo). This was a significant
advantage for us - we only had a short distance to the runway and takeoff = LESS
ENGINE overheating. We lost a LOT of planes and crews due to engine failure on
takeoff caused by engine overheating. This was due to the tropical temperatures
(85- 95 degrees) and our overloading the airplanes by 5,000 - 10,000 lbs. on
combat missions.
Jim, as I mentioned, North Field had four 8,500 foot runways. Looking at the
photos, it looks like the other 2 runways have been "reclaimed" by the jungle.
A subsequent 2020 Google Earth satellite photo barely shows the 3rd & 4th runways.
When we first landed on Tinian, we had steel landing mats
(Marston mats) which destroyed many tires. The SEA-BEES worked 24 hours/day
mining coral from the central ridge of the island, mixing with blacktop mix and
paving runways, taxiways, hard stands and many miles of blacktop road. Of
course, much of this has disappeared and has returned to return to jungle.
Yes, the beaches were beautiful for swimming. We also had "cliffs" from which
the Japanese hurled themselves to their deaths rather than surrender. Before
leaving the island to return to the States (November and December of 1945) we
pushed many rounds of belted .50 caliber ammunition, jeeps, armored personnel
carriers and other materials off of the Tinian Island cliffs (these were
materials which were not easily returned to the US.).
A little known fact is that during the Vietnam War, numerous Japanese companies
scoured many islands in the South Pacific (including Tinian) for materials that
we 'disposed' of after WWII. They salvaged, repaired and then sold the equipment
and munitions back to the U.S. for use once again in another war in Southeast
Asia.
The photos bring back a LOT of memories. Some good.......many sad. I thank you
for sending. Best to you, Fred S.
In late July, 2014, I sent Fred some recently declassified photos of the Enola
Gay (the B-29 that dropped the 1st atomic bomb) and Bockscar (the B-29 that
dropped the 2nd atomic bomb). Both of these planes were part of the 509th Bomb
Group that was commanded by Col. Paul Tibbets. The 509th arrived on Tinian
Island in July of 1945 and they displaced Fred’s hardstand (the parking area).
This is a photo of the Enola Gay landing on Tinian after dropping the first
atomic bomb
This is a photo of Bockscar after it had dropped the second atomic bomb:
This is a photo of the atomic bomb being loaded into the Enola Gay (notice the “Top Secret” labeling on the photo):
Here is Fred’s response to seeing those photos:
As I recall the Enola Gay and
Bockscar both loaded with their atomic bombs on the flight line using
the elevator that was installed on the hardstand we had been using before they
arrived.
After Tibbets' group arrived and took over our hardstand, we were moved to the
head of the flight line which sure helped to lessen our ground time and the
cylinder head temp problems associated with the long idle times prior to
take-off. Our mission takeoffs were one minute apart!! Some evenings the takeoff
process took an hour or more to get all planes (over 1,000+) in the air for a
mission against the Empire, and we were using all 4 runways.
In early June of 2015 I sent Fred an article on the Commemorative Air Force’s
B-29 “FIFI” which was the only flying B-29 in the world.
On June 26, 2015 I received this response from Fred:
Good Afternoon Jim –
Thanks. "FIFI" is a dependable ICON. General Curtis LeMay made
a difference in tactics after he arrived in the spring of 1945. He recognized
how tenacious the Japanese were in the daylight defense of the homeland. For
daylight missions we loaded with full ammo - almost 20,000 #s.
LeMay went along for several night time missions - the Japs had poor radar and
virtually no night fighters. He changed our tactics to night missions only. For
night missions, we downloaded ammo to 50 rounds per gun - a huge weight savings
- and flew at lower altitudes - from 5200 feet to about 7500 feet and carried
much higher bomb loads.
Our "payloads" consistently were over 15,000 # - some B-17 flights in Europe
were less than 3000#. The B-29 was technologically far superior to the B-17 -
for example - the B-17 could not have carried an atomic bomb.
Jim - of course - today's planes - are FAR Superior to the planes of - yes - 70
years ago. Best, Fred S.
On August 6, 1945, Fred, along with a lot of his squadron mates from the 505th,
was awake and on the flight line at 02:45 in the morning to watch Col. Paul
Tibbets and the crew of the Enola Gay take off on a 'top-secret' mission.
When the Enola Gay landed later that day, Fred already knew what had happen at Hiroshima....the dawn of the nuclear age had just occurred and he had a front row seat in history. When Paul Tibbets and his crew returned from the mission, the 509th threw a big 'beer bash' to celebrate. Below is a copy of the invitation to the celebration that Fred attended 74 years ago with the crew of the Enola Gay on August 6, 1945.
In early January, 2016, I sent Fred a copy of an art print entitled “Victory Flyover” that depicted the Japanese surrender on the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The Allies put over 1,000+ fully-armed airplanes in the air that day to guard against any suicide attacks during the surrender. Fred’s B-29 was one of the planes in the air over Tokyo Bay on that momentous day.
After looking at the print, this is what Fred had to say:
Good Morning Jim - This year it is 71 years ago that we
over flew Tokyo Bay and the battleship USS Missouri. Jim - I can recall it was a
bright sunny day. What I remember most was the last 12 weeks of the war - we
flew all night missions!
Yes - Jim we were a highly advanced bombing company! We carried all the
tonnage we could - that meant only loading 50 rounds per .50 caliber machine
guns - all the weight savings were used to increase maximum
bomb loads - and we flew at much lower altitudes - 5,000 ft. - 7,000 ft. VS
daylight of 15,000 ft. plus (fuel savings) !! The Japs had poor
night fighter operations. The month of June 1945 - our entire wing - lost no
planes to enemy fighters (we did lose planes to mechanical failures, engine
fires and fuel starvation returning from the Empire).
Fred, why are you telling me all of this - well September 2, 1945 was the
flyover of Tokyo Bay - the Japs were to sign the surrender - right -
well - our gun turrets were loaded FULL with 5,000 rounds per gun (over 20,000
pounds more weight) - having been surprised on December 7 1941, we were prepared
for any eventuality.
The day was uneventful!! Yes, there were many B-29's - perhaps as many as 800 -
a perfectly choreographed event. Each WING had about 200 planes - 5 wings - not
every airplane was flyable every day! You can bet all eyes to the sky. We did
not want to ram one another at this time because we were hopefully on the way
home in a few months.
If you have read Laura Hildebrand book about Louie Zamperini (a POW in Japan) -
he tells of the fear and awe these LARGE silver US planes
brought to the Japanese population (our B-29s) due to our fire-bombing of their
cities. Jim - an important reason for the fire-bombing - much of the Jap
manufacturing capability was dispersed in private homes - drill presses - lathes
- screw machines - even some light hydraulic presses. The Japanese thought that
by dispersing their manufacturing they could continue to produce war material.
They never thought of the HUGE fires that we would start with our incendiary
bombs. Many times we started huge firestorms that consumed their flimsy housing
of wood and paper and destroyed several square miles of the targeted city. Jim -
over 350,000 Japanese residents of Tokyo died in fire-bombing raids before the
war was finally over. Thank God Truman authorized the dropping of the atomic
bombs that finally put an end to the terrible destruction.
Jim - Long ago and far away - best Fred S.
Fred’s internment, Sugarcreek, Ohio 10/19/19
