Tony F. Schneider (November 11, 1917 – October 16, 2010) was an American World War II pilot who taught at University of Louisville and was appointed the Holloway Plan Professor of Naval Science at the University of New Mexico.
Tony Schneider completed naval flight training following graduation from Westminster College (Missouri) with a mathematics degree in 1939. He was commissioned as an ensign in United States Naval Reserve in 1940 assigned to Bombing Squadron 6 aboard Enterprise. He launched from Enterprise on December 7, 1941, in an unsuccessful attempt to locate the Japanese fleet following the attack on Pearl Harbor. He flew from Enterprise for the Marshalls-Gilberts raids in February, 1942, and while Enterprise accompanied for the Doolittle raid in April. His Air Medal citation for the February raids reads: "Attacked enemy ships and shore installations in face of heavy anti-aircraft fire destroying large storehouse and damaging two bombers on ground with near misses." He flew with C. Wade McClusky's SBD Dauntless dive bombers during the Battle of Midway, but a throttle malfunction caused his plane to run out of fuel as the dive bomber formation searched for the Japanese aircraft carriers. He spent three days in the Pacific on a small inflatable life raft after rescuing his unconscious tail gunner from the sinking aircraft, before being rescued by a VP-23 PBY Catalina on June 6. Prior to his rescue he had to shoot two Great White sharks amidst a sizable school of sharks swimming alongside and only inches from the raft, so as to repel the sharks from damaging the raft. He received his first Navy Cross for this action.
Tony Schneider became operations officer of Scouting Squadron 11, and earned his first Distinguished Flying Cross leading air strikes out of Henderson Field (Guadalcanal) for three months before returning to the United States to spend a year instructing bomber pilots in Seattle. He then became commanding officer of Bombing Squadron 9 and finished the war flying from and .
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