US Blue Angels name Amanda Lee as first female pilot

Lt Lee is one of six new officers selected for the 2023 air show season, the Navy says

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The US Navy's famed aerial display team, the Blue Angels, have named Lieutenant Amanda Lee as its first female pilot.

Lt Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota, was one of six new officers selected for the 2023 air show season, the Navy said on Monday.

After a five-month training programme, she will fly the F/A-18 Super Hornet for the elite demonstration team founded in 1946.

Lt Lee, whose call sign is "Stalin", was commissioned as an officer in 2013 after being trained as an aviation electronics technician, the Navy said. She became a naval aviator in 2016.

Another woman, Marine Major Katie Cook, joined the Blue Angels in 2015 and flew C-130 support aircraft known as "Fat Albert."

Updated: June 20, 2023, 12:27 PM