Women are breaking new ground — in the air — making history on the newly chosen 2015 Blue Angels team.
Blue Angels Public Affairs Officer Navy Lt. j.g. Amber Lynn Daniel, 33, of Ramona, Calif., told the Baltimore Sun that for the first time in the team's storied past, two female Marine Corps officers have been selected to be members of the U.S. Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron at the same time.
One of those women, Marine Capt. Katie Higgins, 27, will be a C-130 Demonstration Pilot — making her the first-ever female pilot on the Blue Angels demonstration team, according to Flying magazine.
Higgins, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, expressed her shock at making the team to CBS Baltimore:
“It was something I had dreamed about for a while, and to have it come into fruition was amazing.”
The other female Marine Corps officer is Capt. Corrie Mays, 34. She is assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (All Weather) 225 (VMFA(AW)-225) at MCAS Miramar.
Mays will serve as the team's events coordination officer.
Lt. Cmdr. John Hiltz, applications officer for the 2014 team, explained to Blue Angels Public Affairs that making the team is no easy feat:
"What was most important for us — regardless of anything else — was to select the most qualified individuals for the team to represent the more than 540 thousand Sailors and Marines deployed around the world, around the clock. And I'm happy to say that we've done that."
