The US Navy’s Blue Angels announce its first female jet pilot

Miguel Ortiz
Updated onJul 20, 2022 6:03 AM PDT
2 minute read
Fixed Wing photo

SUMMARY

The Blue Angels are the U.S. Navy’s elite flight demonstration team. Over the years, the Blue Angels have flown different…

The Blue Angels are the U.S. Navy's elite flight demonstration team. Over the years, the Blue Angels have flown different aircraft, but the skill of the team has always remained top-notch. In short, only the best of the best get to wear the blue flight suit. In 2015, Marine Maj. Katie Higgins Cook, then a Captain, became the first female Blue Angels pilot flying the team's C-130, nicknamed Fat Albert.

The Blue Angels are recognized around the world for their skill in the air (U.S. Navy)

The 2022 Blue Angels team includes three female officers. Lt. Kaitlin Forster, a Naval Flight Officer, serves as the Blue Angels' Event Coordinator and joined the team in 2019. Public Affairs Officer Lt. Chelsea Dietlin also joined the Blue Angels in 2019. Finally, Lt. Cdr. Monica Borza serves as the team's flight surgeon and joined in 2020. These three women will soon be joined by a fourth female officer; the first female Blue Angels jet pilot.

Only the best Navy and Marine Corps aviators get to fly for the Blue Angels (U.S. Navy)

On July 18, 2022, the Blue Angels announced the acceptance of six new officers who will join the team for the 2023 show season. Only two of these officers were selected to fly the F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornet demonstration fighter jets. One of these two aviators is Lt. Amanda Lee; callsign Stalin.

Lee was selected as the first female Blue Angels jet pilot (U.S. Navy)

Lee enlisted in the Navy in 2007. She initially served as an aviation electronics technician. Through the Seaman to Admiral-21 program, Lee earned her Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Old Dominion University and commissioned in August 2013. She earned her wings of gold and was designated a Naval Aviator in April 2016.

"I first served as an Enlisted Sailor. I'm humbled to have come full circle, and now fly the very aircraft I used to work on as a maintainer" (Lt. Amanda Lee via Twitter.com/FlyNavy)

In 2019, Lee flew as part of the all-female flyover for the funeral of Captain Rosemary Mariner, the first female Navy jet pilot. According to a Navy Facebook post, she completed a deployment aboard the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) in support of Dynamic Force Employment, Operation Inherent Resolve, and numerous exercises with NATO Allies. She is currently assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106 "Gladiators" at Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.

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