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September 17, 2009
William A. Schoneberger, a prominent aviation historian and former longtime resident of Pacific Palisades, died on August 31 in Santa Barbara. He was 83.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on March 27, 1926, Bill graduated from high school in 1943 and earned an accelerated B.S. degree in naval science from the University of South Carolina in 1945. He served in the Navy as an ensign, then began a career that included working at the General Electric Aircraft Engine Division in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Lynn, Massachusetts and at Northrop Aviation in Los Angeles. He later started W.A. Schoneberger Communications.
Bill was married three times: to Betty Depperman (deceased), Shirley Archer and Pat Olsen, but was unmarried at the time of his death.
In 1972, he moved to Coastline Drive in the Sunset Mesa neighborhood, close to the beach where he enjoyed taking walks. He relocated to Santa Barbara in 2006 to be closer to family.
Bill spent more than half a century participating in and chronicling the progress of U.S. aviation. He authored nine books on aviation history and played a key role in the communications organizations of both General Electric's jet engine division and the Northrop (now Northrop Grumman) Corporation.
He served four terms as president of the Aero Club of Southern California, and in the late 1970s helped arrange with the estate of Howard Hughes to have the club display the giant Hughes Flying Boat, nicknamed 'the Spruce Goose,' in a large dome on the Long Beach waterfront. In the early 1990s, Bill headed a team from the club that arranged for the enormous wooden aircraft to be relocated to its present home in a new museum in Oregon. He also worked with the Hughes Estate to create the Aero Club's Howard Hughes Memorial Award, which for 30 years has honored lifetime achievements in aviation and aerospace.
In 1998, Bill was presented the aerospace industry's prestigious Lyman Award, given to him for 'Outstanding Achievement in Aviation Writing.' Last year, the Flight Path Learning Center at LAX, of which he was one of three founders, named its research library after him and filled it with a large collection of his documents and books.
Bill is survived by his son William, daughter-in-law Marion and grandsons Andrew, Eric and Brian, all of Santa Barbara.
Donations can be made in his name to the Flightpath Learning Center and Museum, P.O. Box 90234, Los Angeles, CA 90009.
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