That Lee had the right stuff for the Blues was confirmed to the News Journal by Vice Adm. "They needed to pick exactly the right person, and this gal sure seems like she's the right person." "The very worst thing would be to select the person who wasn't good enough, and then you just sort of reinforce the stereotypes that some people might have that women are not good fighter pilots," Hansen said. Kinsella and Hansen both emphasized a key point for people to remember - Lee earned her spot on the Blue Angels not because she is a woman but because of her abilities as a pilot. "And then once they do it, you realize how stupid were we not to have done this so many years before, that it is only our own prejudices and our own paradigms that allow us not to make these right decisions." "The joy that those women had knowing that they would be able to stand beside men, stand beside their brothers, and go to combat with them and serve their country in the way that they wanted to serve, it was just a pure joy from them that they were able to do that," Kinsella recalled. Naval Academy and go into combat roles, he said. Kinsella said was on hand in the 1990s to witness the first class of women to graduate from the U.S. Officials say numbers: Crowds at 2022 Blue Angels air show were larger than ever View Gallery: Blue Angels Pensacola Beach 2022: Friday full dress rehearsal | Photosįirst woman demonstration pilot: Blue Angels name first woman F/A-18E/F demonstration pilot. And it's so meaningful that those young girls can see that and they know that they can reach for the stars - that there's no ceiling that they can't break, that everything is open to them." "I can't wait to see the faces on the young girls in the audience, the young women in the audience," Kinsella said. "Now, there are people in the audience that can see a Blue Angel that looks like them for the first time, and that is so powerful. However, even after countless dealings with the Blues over the years, he is particularly excited to see them during the 2023 air show season. Tim "Lucky" Kinsella said he's seen his fair share of Blue Angels air shows over the years from inside and outside the cockpit, and during his three-year stint as commander of NAS Pensacola, he worked intimately with the team. She will pilot a F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and perform death-defying maneuvers above crowds of thousands all over the country. Hundreds of women have served with the Blue Angels in various capacities over the last 55 years.īut Lee, of Mounds View, Minnesota, will be the first woman to fly in formation as a demonstration pilot. So, I think that was a really important step, as this recent selection is for the Blue Angels." "It made me feel that we were moving forward, that women were being given opportunities to compete equally. "I always thought that it was an interesting closing of the circle - if you will - that the reaction was kind of the same but for completely different reasons," she continued. Recap: Here's everything you missed at the Blue Angels Pensacola Beach airshow Tim Kinsella to create new Center for Leadership Public to private: UWF hires ex-NAS Pensacola leader Capt. A big-time announcement: Blue Angels name first woman F/A-18E/F demonstration pilot.
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