WASHINGTON — U.S. Navy Lt. Amanda Lee has been selected as the first female jet pilot to join the Navy's elite Blue Angels flight demonstration team, according to the Navy.
Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota, is an F/A-18 pilot stationed at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia, where she is currently assigned to the"Gladiators" of Strike Fighter Squadron 106. She graduated from Old Dominion University in Richmond, Virginia, in 2013.
Lee's selection to the Blue Angels was announced Monday in a Facebook post that announced the selection of six new officers who would join the team for the upcoming 2023 season. Lee, whose call sign is"Stalin," joined the Navy as an enlisted sailor in 2007 while attending the University of Minnesota and working at a UPS location, according to the Navy.
Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Zimmerman, of Baltimore, Maryland, who is currently assigned to the"Red Rippers" of Strike Fighter Squadron 11, will also join the Blue Angels as a flight demonstration pilot.