First Female Pilot Joins The Navy’s Blue Angels Demo Team

First Female Pilot Joins The Navy’s Blue Angels Demo Team
800x300 - Top Sellers Animated

The US Navy’s Blue Angels demo team has made their first women pilot public for the 2023 Air Show season. According to the Navy, women have served the Blue Angels team for more than 55 years in other capacities, but Amanda Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota is the first to join this popular demonstration team as a pilot.

Blue Angels posted on Facebook mentioning that Lee, a member of the “Gladiators” of Strike Fighter Squadron 106, graduated from Old Dominion University in 2013.

Blue Angels squadron’s commanding officer and flight leader Capt. Brian Kesselring said,

“We had an overwhelming number of applicants from all over the globe this year, 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.”

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman, of Baltimore, Maryland, and Marine Corps Capt. Samuel Petko of Osceola, Indiana are pilots among the other five new members named as the Blue Angels team members. Lt. Cmdr. Brian Vaught, of Englewood, Colorado, was named events coordinator. Lt. Cmdr. Greg Jones, of Cary, North Carolina, will be an aviation maintenance officer, and Lt. Philippe Warren, of Williamsburg, Virginia, is the new flight surgeon.

The newly named team members will report to the Blue Angels squadron in September for a 2-month turnover period. When the 2022 Ble Angels show season ends in November, the team will be participating in a five-month training program at NAS Pensacola and Naval Air Facility El Centro, Calif.

The mission of the Blue Angels is to show the teamwork and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps through flight demonstrations.

924 Views

admin

Leave a Reply