A female pilot will be performing thrilling aerobatic maneuvers like the Diamond Dirty Loop and the Delta Roll as a member of the Navy’s famed Blue Angels flight demonstration team for the first time since the group was created in 1946.
The Navy on Monday selected Lt. Amanda Lee as the squadron’s first woman F/A-18 E/F demonstration pilot. She is one of six Navy personnel who will join the ranks of the Blue Angels in 2023 as either an aviator or ground support officer, officials said.
“We had an overwhelming number of applicants from all over the globe this year,” Capt. Brian Kesselring, the Blue Angels’ commanding officer, said in a statement. “We look forward to training our fantastic new team members, passing on the torch, and watching the incredible things this team will accomplish in 2023.”
Lt. Lee is originally from Mounds View, Minnesota, and is assigned to the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron 106, based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She graduated in 2013 from Old Dominion University, the Navy said.
Finalists were interviewed earlier this month at the team’s home base at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida.
Lt. Lee enlisted in the Navy in 2007 and was trained as an aviation electronics technician. She was later selected for the service’s “Seaman to Admiral” program, which offers a pathway to a commission for promising enlisted sailors.
Before her current assignment, Lt. Lee deployed aboard the USS Harry S Truman aircraft carrier in support of the U.S.-led military campaign against the Islamic State in the Middle East.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.