On Monday, the Blue Angels welcomed the squadron’s first female jet pilot.
Lt. Amanda Lee was chosen by the US Navy Flight Display Squadron to become the first female F/A-18E/F demonstration pilot.
For the 2023 air show season, the Blue Angels squad will welcome six new officers, including Lee.
Over the course of 55 years, hundreds of women have served in a variety of capacities with the Blue Angels, but Lee is the first one to be chosen to be a demonstration pilot.
The Gladiators of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106, based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, are where she is now stationed.
Lee was born and raised in Mounds View, Minnesota, and subsequently graduated from the University of Minnesota, where she made the decision to join the Navy. According to the US Navy, she received her diploma from the Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, in 2007.
She began her career as an electronics technician for the aircraft industry and was chosen to take part in the Seaman-to-Admiral Commissioning Program. She received her commission in 2013, the same year she received a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Old Dominion University.
Lee received his naval aviator designation three years later, in April 2016, according to the US Navy.
In 2019, Lee was one of nine female navy aviators that flew above Rosemary Mariner’s burial ceremony to pay tribute to one of the first military pilots.
She gave Mariner credit for paving the way for women like herself in the air forces at the time.
Marine Maj. Katie Higgins, the first female pilot of the Blue Angels, is followed by Lee. From 2014 to 2016, Higgins piloted the team’s C-130 Fat Albert cargo aircraft.
During the week of the Pensacola Beach Air Show, the Blue Angels interview the finalists they have chosen from a pool of applicants each year. On July 9, the program for this year came to an end, and choices were made.
