Yankee Squadron

The Yankee Squadron was a group of mercenary American military aviators who flew for the Spanish Republican Air Force, during the |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

To Spain

In November 1936, representatives of the Spanish Republic (Spanish Republicans, or Loyalists) began a campaign to hire American pilots to fight in the Spanish Civil War.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=4 Americans in Spain to Fly for Madrid. Acosta and Three Mates Reach Valencia to Take Course in Military Aviation. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F6081EF83E59167B93C3AB178AD95F428385F9 |quote=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. ... |publisher=New York Times |date=November 21, 1936 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] They used a New York lawyer to find American pilots. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=U.S. Socialists Sift Volunteers To Fight Rebels. Federal Inquiry Gaining Impetus. Ambulance Unit Sails. |url= |quote=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. |publisher=Washington Post via Associated Press|date=January 17, 1937 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Aviator Says New York Attorney Is Leftist Agent. Several Indictments Are Planned in Enlistment of Fliers for Spain. |url= |quote=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. |publisher=Washington Post via Associated Press |date=January 16, 1937 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] "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. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Fliers Fully Paid, Spain's Agent Says |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3071EF938551B7A93C5A8178AD85F438385F9 |quote=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. 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. |publisher=New York Times |date=January 17, 1937, Sunday |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

"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."cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Pilots, Death, Plebiscite. |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757204,00.html |quote= |publisher=Time (magazine) |date=December 21, 1936 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ]

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

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." [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Uneasy Christmas. |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762332-2,00.html |quote= |publisher=Time (magazine) |date=January 4, 1937 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Bert Acosta's Flyers Ravage Rebels' Base. |url= |quote= |publisher=The Washington Post |date=December 25, 1936 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] The Fascists bombed Madrid on Christmas Eve. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Christmas Eve Raid on Madrid Spreads Panic. Loyalists' Gunboats Seize German Ship With 'Contraband.' |url= |quote=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. |publisher=Washington Post via United Press |date=December 25, 1936 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

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. ... [cite web |url=http://www.raabcollection.com/_downloads/LibertyBell_Spring2006.pdf |title=So I'm a Military Prostitute |accessdate=2007-09-25 |quote= |publisher=Raab Collection with Frederic Ives Lord auction of Spring 2006 ]

Return to United States

Four of them resigned and returned to the United States in January. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Yankee Fliers Quit. |url= |quote= |publisher=Washington Post |date=January 7, 1937 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] 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." 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. [cite book |last=Gordon |first=Yefim |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Polikarpov's I-16 Fighter: Its Forerunners and Progeny |year=2002 |publisher= |quote= | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=DLMEAAAACAAJ&dq |isbn=1857801318 ] The flyers said both the socialist and fascist air forces in Spain were staffed almost entirely by foreigners.

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 nationalistssic 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.'"

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?"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. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Post's New Yorker |url= |quote=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. |publisher=Washington Post |date=September 22, 1937 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]

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. 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.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=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. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F3071EF938551B7A93C5A8178AD85F438385F9 |quote=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. |publisher=New York Times |date=January 17, 1937 |accessdate=2007-09-25 ] Their lawyer, Lewis Landes, claimed Acosta and Berry were still owed $1,500 and Schneider $1,200.

Members

* Bertrand Blanchard Acosta (1895-1954), co-pilot on "America", the third plane to fly the Atlantic (1927).
* Eddie August Schneider (1911-1940)cite book |last=Knoblaugh |first=H. Edward |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Correspondent in Spain |year=1937 |publisher=Sheed and Ward |quote=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, ... | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MQkhAAAAMAAJ&q |isbn= ]
* Thomas George Lanphier, Sr., it is disputed whether Lanphier actually went to Spain or not.cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Lanphier was not in Spain. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50B16FB3D5C1A7A93C4A91789D85F438385F9 |quote=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. ...|publisher=New York Times |date=February 6, 1937 |accessdate=2007-08-21 ]
* Frederic Ives Lord (1897-1967), a.k.a. Frank I. Frederick Lord cite web |url=http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/alba_names.html |title=Lincoln Brigade archives at the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives |accessdate=2007-06-14 |quote=Bert Blanchard Acosta; George F. Berry; Frank I. Frederick Lord; Eddie August Schneider; Eddie Semons |publisher=New York University] [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=4 Americans in Spain to Fly for Madrid. Acosta and Three Mates Reach Valencia to Take Course in Military Aviation. |url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F6081EF83E59167B93C3AB178AD95F428385F9 |quote=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. |publisher=New York Times |date=November 21, 1936, Saturday |accessdate=2007-09-25 ]
* Gordon Berry (1898-?), he is sometimes listed as "George F. Berry" or "Gordon K. Berry" or "Gordon O. Berry". He was a 39 year old flying and drinking companion of Bert Acosta, who served in the RAF towards the end of World War I. He was from New York.cite book |last=Bridgeman |first=Brian |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The Flyers: The Untold Story of British and Commonwealth Airmen in the Spanish Civil War |year=1989 |publisher= |quote=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. | url=http://books.google.com/books?ei=75jwRsrKB4b07gL5-bjrBg&id=tLEgAAAAMAAJ&dq |isbn=1854210548 ] [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] cite book |last=Taylor |first=Foster Jay |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=The United States and the Spanish Civil War |year=1971 |publisher=Octagon Books |quote=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. | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=WpQ6AAAAMAAJ&q |isbn=0374978492 ]
* Eddie Semons, sometimes listed as "Edwin Semons" or "Edwin L. Semons". He may have helped recruit other pilots. [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.]

References

See also

* Frank Glasgow Tinker
* Lincoln Brigade

External links

* [http://www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/research/tam/alba_names.html Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives]