Neta enrolled in the Davenport (Iowa) Flying School located in an abandoned warehouse on the riverfront.  There was no superb equipment, so the students first had to build the aeroplane, which they constructed of wooden spars covered with linen.  The students covered the linen with seven coats of fabric sealer before spliced crisscross steel cables tightened by turnbuckles held everything together.  This 1917 photo shows the aviation school students who came from Missouri, Texas, Wisconsin, Illinois, California and West Australia in addition to Iowa.  As I was the only girl, the boys insisted I sit front row center.  Neta's first flight was July 21, 1917.

Neta is shown in 1917 with Mr. Louie (Louis Boudor), the Davenport Aviation School instructor.  Flight training in Davenport ended suddenly when the plane was ruined by a crash.  By that time Neta had only logged 100 minutes of flying time.   Since that wasn't enough to secure a license to fly, she travelled to Newport News, Virginia, to attend the Glenn Curtiss Flying School.  Although first turned away because of her gender, this time she was admitted.  The Curtiss flying instructors were Carl Batts and Eddie Stinson.

In December of 1917 an order from the U.S. Government closed the Curtiss Flying School because of the the possiblity of wartime spies, so Neta followed Glenn Curtis to his relocated training center in Miami, Florida.  Neta is pictured with the Miami students in 1918.  Just before Neta was to perform solo to receive her instructor's license, another order from the government stated, All civilian flying in the United States prohibited for the duration of the war.

Neta returned to Ames until July of 1918 when she was offered a New York position by the British Air Ministry to expedite U.S. air related shipments bound for Britain.

Neta Snook had been in avaition for three years, but still hadn't received her pilot's license because of air crashes and govenment proclamations.  The government issued her a license restricted to pleasure and training flights and not for carrying passengers. I ignored it, as did my pilot friends, and erased the first "n" in "none" and carried passengers until I sold my plane.