Lieutenant Amanda “Stalin” Lee made history as the first woman to fly in a demo F/A-18E/F Super Hornet with the Blue Angels. While she wasn’t the first female sailor to serve with the Blue Angels in the teams’ 56-year history, she is the first demonstration pilot to join, making history for the U.S. Navy as well.

Lee is a native of Mounds View, Minnesota. 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 and was selected to commission as a pilot through the Seaman-to-Admiral (STA-21) commissioning program in 2009. She attended the Naval Science Institute (NSI) for officer training in Newport, Rhode Island while at the same time studying at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where she received a Bachelor of Science in biochemistry.

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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 Resolove, as well as multiple exercises with NATO allies. After earning her gold wings, Amanda received orders to the “Gladiators” in Virginia Beach, Virginia, for training in the F/A-18 Super Hornet.

In 2019, Lee was a member of the first all-female flyover as part of the funeral service for retired Navy Captain Rosemary Mariner, one of the first female Navy jet pilots and the first woman to command an operational naval aviation squadron. Lee has served as a Schedules Officer, Head Operations Representative, Detachment Planning Officer, Senior Watch Officer, and Rhino Demo Team Lead.

Lee joined the Blue Angels in September 2022. She has accumulated more than 1,400 flight hours and more than 225 carrier-arrested landings. Her decorations include four Navy Achievement medals and various personal and unit awards. After the 2022 Blue Angels show season ended in November, Lee and her team members embarked on a rigorous five-month training program at NAS Pensacola and Naval Air Facility in El Centro, California. The first show of the 2023 season was on March 11.

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