Amanda Lee

Amanda Lee (born ) is a naval aviator in the United States Navy. She was selected in June 2022 as the first female fighter jet pilot in the elite Blue Angels flight demonstration squadron. Lee made her debut as the Left Wing demo pilot in the number three jet on March 11, 2023, at NAF El Centro, California, and she then served as the Slot Pilot in the number four jet. She uses the call sign "Stalin".

Career

After enlisting in the U.S. Navy, Lee served as an aviation electronics technician. As part of her training she successfully completed 225 carrier-arrested landings and 1,400 flight hours. She has four Navy Achievement Medals and other personal and unit awards. after USMC Captain Katie Higgins Cook who joined in 2015, flying the Lockheed C-130 Hercules Fat Albert transport plane.

In September 2022 she was assigned to the "Gladiators" of Strike Fighter Squadron 106 (VFA-106), based at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia. Her induction and training as a new Blue Angels pilot was captured in the 2024 film The Blue Angels.

Lee's first performance as the Left Wing demo pilot with the Blue Angels took place on March 11, 2023, in El Centro, California. She also performed before an estimated 100,000 people at the MCAS Beaufort Airshow on May 22 and 23, 2023. She was cheered at the show on both days as she climbed into the cockpit of her number three aircraft.

Lieutenant Commander Lee was the slot pilot in the Blue Angels #4 jet, during the 2024 season. Her tour with the Blue Angels lasted two years through the end of the 2024 season. She returned to the fleet in late 2024 to serve as a department head at VFA-87, where she was working on the squadron's 2025 deployment aboard the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

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