Carl Schneider German Flying Ace in WWI. De Soto, Kansas (Associated Press) Carl H. Schneider, a German World War I flying ace who was credited with shooting down 17 planes as part of the legendary Red Baron's Flying Circus squadron, is dead at age 77. Schneider died Monday at a nursing home in this Kansas City suburb. He worked in an aircraft manufacturing plant in Frankfurt, Germany, before he became a pilot and downed 17 British and French planes. He emigrated to the United States in 1922. He worked for various aircraft manufacturers in the United States, was commissioned by the government Dies; Was Ace In WWI to instruct members of the Chinese air force for Chiang Kai-shek and later became a government aeronautics investigator. "Of course you had to have guts, and in those days I had plenty," Schneider once said of his combat exploits. He described Baron Manfred von Richthofen, better known as the Red Baron, as "a hunter. I saw him fighting five planes at one time." A funeral home spokesman said Schneider apparently had no survivors. Funeral services were delayed pending the return of Schneider's attorney from a trip.
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