Women in the Golden Age of Aviation

The turn of the twentieth century brought a Golden Age of Aviation. Caught up in this exciting period were many pioneering women who defied traditional female roles to become pilots. Amelia Earhart is the most famous of this group of aviatrixes, though often overlooked is Neta Snook, the woman taught Earhart how to fly and whose adventurous spirit mirrored Earhart's own.

Snook's Early Days in the Sky

Snook had been flying for four years by the time she met Earhart. After leaving Iowa State College in June 1917, Snook began formal flight training at the Davenport Aviation School. The school closed after a fatal plane crash killed the school's president and injured Snook's instructor. Snook then applied to the Curtiss Flying School in Newport News, VA. After initially being rejected because she was a woman, she was accepted. With the financial help of her mother and some money Snook had earned on her own, she was able to attend Curtiss. In 1918, the school was forced to move to Coconut Grove, FL, as a result of security measures placed on the Newport News area. Eventually, a government ban on civilian flying for the duration of World War I would cause the school to close entirely.

To continue her career in aviation, Snook took a job as an airplane parts inspector at a British Air Ministry plant in Elmira, New York. By 1920 she had rebuilt an old Canuck, a Canadian training plane, at her parents' home in Iowa and flown her first solo flight. That summer she began to take passengers for fifteen minute rides at the rate of fifteen dollars per flight. She also became a stunt pilot or barnstormer to make extra money.

Passion for Flight: Snook Finds Friendship with Earhart

After rebuilding the Canuck at her parent's home in Iowa, Snook moved to California where the weather permitted her to fly year-round. Bert Kinner, owner of Kinner Field, hired her to test fly his planes. Eventually, Snook became a flight instructor and met Amelia Earhart in December of 1920. In her autobiography I Taught Amelia to Fly, Snook describes her first impression of Earhart: "I'll never forget the day she and her father came to the field. I liked her on sight [1]." On the afternoon of January 3, 1921, Earhart took her first flying lesson from Snook in a Curtiss Jenny plane. Equipped with an impressive knowledge of aviation and eagerness to fly, Earhart became Snook's most famous student. The two became good friends and flew together for over a year. Snook became close with the entire Earhart family, often seeking financial advice from Earhart's father and spending time at the family home.

Earhart was an inquisitive person. Her reading interests were always varied and she frequently visited the library, often checking books out for herself, her family, and Snook. In the featured letter below, dated January 26, 1929, Earhart sends a friendly response to her former instructor remembering their days of flying together. She writes; "My dear Neta, it is long ago that we flew together. Yes, I do remember discussions of the Koran, and cold boiled potatoes."

In her autobiography, Snook recounts an instance when Earhart asked her to read a copy of the Koran. Snook refused, stating that there was no mention of Mohammed in the Bible and that she believed implicitly in the Bible with its account of the creation [2]. The subject was dropped for the time being, but it's likely that talk of the Koran resurfaced several times after the incident. Not much is known about Earhart's religious beliefs, but as an adult she seemed to have an interest in studying world religions and cultures. She enjoyed reading the Koran and embraced some of the religion's overall philosophy as a form of spiritual guidance.

At the time the letter was written, Earhart was aviation editor at Cosmopolitan and was responsible for writing about the popularity and trends of aviation. In addition, she was involved in co-founding the "Ninety Nines", an organization established to nurture and support women pilots which is still active today. Though she was modest about her accomplishments, Earhart was a celebrated icon of her time. When she returned from record-breaking flights, parades were thrown in her honor and large crowds came to greet their "Lady Lindy". Her career was full of "firsts" for women, including being the first woman passenger on a transatlantic flight and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic. She also had the honor of being the first woman recipient of the flying cross. Her greatest feat became her last adventure as she set out to become the first woman and pilot to fly around the world at the equator for a total distance of 27,000 miles in the summer of 1937. Nearly completing her flight, Earhart and her navigator Frederick Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937 without a trace.

By the time of Earhart's disappearance, Snook had been retired from aviation for fifteen years. Her marriage to William Southern and desire for motherhood were the reasons she gave for leaving the field. She was so adamant about distancing herself from aviation that upon being asked to join the Ninety-Nines by Earhart, she declined in fear that it might ignite aviation interests in her son. Neta Snook (Southern) didn't fly again until 1977, when she was invited to pilot a replica of Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. In 1981, she was the oldest woman pilot in the United States and continued to be an active speaker and lecturer until her death in 1991.

Ana Ramirez-Luhrs
Reading Room Librarian

[1] Southern, Neta Snook. I Taught Amelia to Fly. (New York, 1974), p.101

[2] ibid, p. 105

GLC 07243.01 Amelia Earhart to Neta Snook, 26 January 1929.

For more information or to obtain copies, contact Ana Ramirez-Luhrs at reference@gilderlehrman.com or call (212) 787-6616 ext. 209.

Butler, Susan. East to the Dawn: The Life of Amelia Earhart. Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1997.

Earhart, Amelia. 20 Hrs., 40 Min.: Our Flight in the Friendship. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2003.

Southern, Neta Snook. I Taught Amelia to Fly. New York: Vantage Press, 1974.

Amelia Earhart Museum: http://www.ameliaearhartmuseum.org/aviator1.htm