2-860-707 - Heritage Space/Heritage Images

Neta Snook Southern at Ames Research Center, California, USA, 1980. American pioneer aviator Neta Snook Southern, age 84, emerges from the Flight Simulator for Advanced Aircraft. Southern, one of the first women pilots, was Amelia Earhart's flight instructor around the year 1920. In marked contrast with what she saw at Ames, Southern said her old plane was made of wood and cloth, had no gas gauge, and the instrument panel consisted of an altimeter and a dollar watch hanging from a hook.