Lt. Amanda Lee (Credit: Chief Petty Officer Paul Archer) The U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron— known as the Blue Angels— will feature a female pilot in its 76-year history.
Lt. Amanda Lee, of Mounds View, Minn., will join the team of pilots for the 2023 air show season. She is assigned to "Gladiators" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106.Lee graduated from Old Dominion University in 2013, according to the military. RELATED: Groundbreaking held for new Gulf War Memorial in DCNEW YORK, USA - MAY 29: Blue Angels jets fly as thousands are gathered at the Jones Beach for the Bethpage Air Show in New York, United States on May 29, 2022. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Other pilots will include Lt.
Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman, Lt. Cmdr. Brian Vaught, Marine Corps Capt. Samuel Petko, Lt. Cmdr. Greg Jones and Lt. Philippe Warren.According to a Facebook post from the U.S.
Navy, Lee enlisted in 2007. She was designated a Naval Aviator in April 2016.According to the U.S. Navy Blue Angels website, The Blue Angels started in 1946 after the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Chester Nimitz, had an idea to create a flight exhibition team.