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UPDATED 7:58 AM PT – Tuesday, July 19, 2022
The US Navy named its first female jet pilot for the Blue Angels. On Monday, the Navy selected Lt. Amanda Lee for the 2023 show season. Lee, who is assigned to the Gladiators of Strike Fighter Squadron 106, worked her way up from an aviation electronics tech in 2007. She will undergo a five-month training this fall before officially becoming one of the Blue Angels’ Super Hornet pilots.
In this photo released by Defense Visual Information Distribution Service, Lt. Amanda Lee is shown. The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flying squadron have named a woman as a demonstration pilot for the first time. Lt. Amanda Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota, was announced Monday, July 18, 2022, as a pilot assigned to the the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron 106. (CPO Paul Archer/DVIDS U.S. Navy via AP)
While Lee is the first female that will fly a Blue Angels fighter jet, there have been previous females who have contributed to the team in other ways. That’s according to a Navy press release. For instance, Marine Maj. Katie Cook was the first female pilot in general. She commented on Lee’s accomplishment saying, “There’s a long legacy of women, first in naval aviation before us, and so we would never even have this opportunity without them.”
Blue Angels training is set to be begin in September and the new season is set to kick-off in March. According to reports, there are 33 airshows scheduled so far, including locations in both the US and Canada.
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