Harley R. Schneider Northwest Vandalia Modification Center Collection (MS-557)

Harley Robert Schneider was born July 1, 1909, in New Ulm, Brown County, Minnesota. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in civil engineering. From 1935 to 1942, Schneider was an engineering supervisor for the Works Progress Administration in Brown County, Minnesota.

In 1943, Schneider became employed as a civil engineer at the headquarters of Northwest Airlines located near St. Paul, Minnesota, and was promoted to materials control supervisor. St. Paul and Holeman Field, North Carolina, were two large Aircraft Modification Centers. These modification centers were created so that larger war production facilities did not have to stop production to modify aircraft. After the bombing on Pearl Harbor, there was an increase of civil corporation’s involvement with war production. Northwest Airlines expanded their production facilities to include a Modification Center in Vandalia, Ohio, at the Dayton Municipal Airport, to accommodate increased need for aircraft modification.

Schneider and several other men were relocated from St. Paul, Minnesota, to Vandalia, Ohio. Schneider recalled the transfers group having to leave their families behind. The group of relocated men rented an apartment in nearby Tipp City but were eventually moved to the Air Force Temporary Housing in Vandalia, Ohio. Schneider’s family, his wife Oradelle and two daughters, joined him in Vandalia by winter of 1943. They occupied one of the family units in the Air Force Temporary Housing facility.

The main modification projects conducted at the Vandalia facility were: the Glider Project (converting CG-4A’s to CG-4C’s); the UC-45 Project (converting AT-7’s to UC-45E’s for special Army work); the AT-6 Project (winterizing AT-6D’s); Cold Weather Test Project (performing cold weather testing on several different aircraft); and Special Photographic Projects (modifying a B-24, a P-38, and P-39 for special radar and photography installations).

Following World War II, Schneider became the city engineer in New Ulm, Minnesota, and held that position until his retirement in 1975. Schneider died February 3, 2008, in New Ulm.