Took her first flying lesson from pioneering instructor Neta Snook at Kinner Field, Los Angeles, in a Curtiss JN-4 'Canuck'.
On January 3, 1921, Amelia Earhart began formal flight instruction with Neta Snook, one of the first women to become a commercially successful aviator and airplane mechanic, at Kinner Field near Los Angeles. Their lessons took place in a war-surplus Curtiss JN-4 'Canuck' trainer.
To fund the expensive lessons — six dollars for ten minutes of instruction, a considerable sum in 1921 — Earhart worked a variety of jobs, including as a photographer, a truck driver, and a filing clerk. She also cut her hair short and adopted a leather jacket, which she deliberately slept in for several nights to give it a worn, seasoned look befitting an aviator.
This apprenticeship under Snook, herself a trailblazer as one of the first women to attend the Curtiss School of Aviation, exemplifies the small, mutually supportive network of early women pilots forging opportunities within a male-dominated field. The lessons set in motion the flying career that would make Earhart the most famous aviator of her generation, culminating in her solo flight and license within the same year.