Blue Angels name first woman to serve as demonstration pilot

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Blue Angels name first woman to serve as demonstration pilot (usa_today_news_641)

PENSACOLA, Fla. – The Blue Angels have selected the squadron’s first female F/A-18E/F demonstration pilot.

On Monday, the U.S. Navy flight demonstration squadron announced six new officers to join the team for the 2023 air show season. The squadron selected two F/A-18E/F Super Hornet pilots, an events coordinator, a C-130J Super Hercules pilot, an aviation maintenance officer and a flight surgeon to replace departing team members.

Although hundreds of women have served with the Blue Angels in a variety of capacities over 55 years, Lt. Amanda Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota, will be the first woman to serve as a demonstration pilot.

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Lee grew up in Minnesota, and while attending the University of Minnesota in Duluth and working at UPS, she decided to enlist in the Navy. She graduated from Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, Illinois, in 2007.

Her enlisted career as an aviation electronics technician led to her selection into the Seaman-to-Admiral Commissioning Program. Lee earned her commission in August 2013 and was designated a naval aviator in April 2016 before being deployed to the USS Harry S. Truman in support of Dynamic Force Employment Operation "INHERENT RESOLVE," as well as numerous exercises with NATO allies.

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In 2019, Lee was part of the first all-female flyover as part of the funeral service for retired Navy Capt. Rosemary Mariner, one of the first female Navy jet pilots and the first woman to command an operational naval aviation squadron.

"Capt. Mariner really was the starting point of female aviation," Lee said at the time. "She's one of the first eight original female pilots allowed in the Naval pipeline ... young kids growing up and not thinking whether they can do something or not because of their race, gender, ethnicity; they just go out and say, 'This is what I want to do.' ... It kind of all starts back with Capt. Mariner and some of the doors that she broke down."

While Lee is the first woman who will fly an F/A-18E/F for the squadron, she isn't the first woman to take to the skies with the Blue Angels.

That honor goes to Marine Maj. Katie Higgins, who flew the team's C-130 Fat Albert transport plane 2014 to 2016. In 2019, while discussing why no woman had yet flown in formation with the Blues, Higgins said the pool of female pilots qualified to apply for the Blue Angels fighter jet demonstration squadron is small, and the number of pilots within the pool who are at the right point in their careers to apply is even smaller.

In an interview in 2019, Lee said: "I wouldn't say that there's a gender bias but it's really, you need a certain mental toughness to get through the program. So you really need that strong will to get through, to succeed."

Meet the new members of the 2023 Blue Angels team

Each year, the Blue Angels select finalists to interview at the team’s home base of NAS Pensacola during the week of the Pensacola Beach Air Show. Selections are made at the conclusion of that week. This year’s Pensacola Beach Air Show took place July 6-9 in front of record crowds.

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“We had an overwhelming number of applicants from all over the globe this year,” said Capt. Brian Kesselring, commanding officer and flight leader of the Blue Angels. “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. Amanda Lee
Lt. Amanda Lee

The selected 2023 officers include:

F/A-18E/F demonstration pilots:

  • Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman, of Baltimore, Maryland, is assigned to the “Red Rippers” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 11. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2009.

  • Lt. Amanda Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota, is assigned to the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 106. She graduated from Old Dominion University in 2013.

Events coordinator:

  • Lt. Cmdr. Brian Vaught, of Englewood, Colorado, is a naval flight officer assigned to the Naval School of Aviation Safety. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 2008.

C-130 demonstration pilot:

  • Marine Corps Capt. Samuel Petko, of Osceola, Indiana, is a KC-130J Hercules pilot assigned to the “Sumos” of Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 152. He graduated from Indiana University in 2014.

Maintenance officer:

  • Lt. Cmdr. Greg Jones, of Cary, North Carolina, is an aviation maintenance officer assigned to Pre-Commissioning Unit John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). He graduated from Elon University in 2008.

Flight surgeon:

  • Lt. Philippe Warren, of Williamsburg, Virginia, is a flight surgeon assigned to the “Fighting Griffins” of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron (VMM) 266. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2014.

New team members will report to the squadron in September for a two-month turnover period. Upon completion of the 2022 show season, which concludes in November with the Blue Angels Homecoming Air Show at NAS Pensacola, the team will embark on a rigorous five-month training program at NAS Pensacola and Naval Air Facility El Centro, California.

The mission of the Blue Angels is to showcase the teamwork and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps through flight demonstrations and community outreach while inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country, a statement from the Blue Angels said.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Blue Angels: First woman F/A-18E/F pilot Amanda Lee named to team