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Orange and Blue Angel

New Blue Angel Lilly Montana keeps her team flying in formation.

lieutenant commander Lilly Montana stands at attention in front of plane
Lilly Montana ’10 goes by many names. Lieutenant Commander. Sister. Wife. Squadron weapons systems officer. Best friend. Mother. Lunchbox (more on that one later).

But she recently added another title to her incredible resume of roles. Blue Angel #8: Events Coordinator.

In July of 2024, the prestigious flight demonstration squad of the Navy and Air Force named Montana to its new slate of officers who will help educate and entertain millions of people at 32 air shows in 2025.

For Montana, it was a case of third time’s the charm.

“I have always loved the F-18 community,” Montana said. “When I was in Pensacola instructing in 2017, I got to see the team up close and got very curious as to what they do. And as I learned more, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.”

She applied the last two years but had never made the final cut.

This year, Montana again went through what they term “rushing.” Meeting the team. Watching the team at shows. Getting evaluated by a psychologist. Attending the social commitments of the squad. She met them and they met her. It’s a necessary step for building a team that will spend roughly 300 days a year together for the next several years.

two Blue Angels stand in front of plane
On July 13, 2024, Montana was gathering with some family and friends on a boat to watch the Pensacola Beach Air Show when she stepped away to call at her designated time, hopeful but cautious from the let-downs of the previous years.

As she returned to the boat where her family and the family of her Auburn roommate were waiting, she announced she had made it. “That made for a really nice afternoon,” said Montana.

Taking Flight

Montana’s trek to the Blue Angels began in Northern Virginia, where she grew up with a younger brother and sister. Set to go to a culinary school in North Carolina, she changed her mind after visiting Auburn for the 2005 Iron Bowl.

“It was the campus and the people that got me. That southern hospitality. The way everything is walkable. It was clean. It was beautiful. I fell in love with Auburn that weekend.”

To help pay for college, Montana joined the Auburn Naval ROTC program in January 2007, in part as a nod to her grandfather who was a Navy aviator. She figured if she was joining the military, why not learn more about foreign relations by getting a political science degree.

After graduation, when Montana was commissioned into the military, it was a choice of flying planes or driving ships. She chose planes.

“It was the campus and the people that got me. That southern hospitality. The way everything is walkable. It was clean. It was beautiful. I fell in love with Auburn that weekend.”
She attended Naval Flight Officer (NFO) Training, earning her wings of gold in 2012. From there she held numerous important positions, including schedules officer, weapons system officer and aircraft division officer. In 2017 she became an instructor for future NFOs, earning instructor of the year in 2020. In 2022 she became a Safety, Admin and Operations Department Head. Along the way, Montana accumulated more than 1,000 flight hours, 180 carrier-assisted landings and numerous Navy and Marine Corps medals and commendations.

All of this prepared her for the incredible logistical and organizational task of pulling off a Blue Angels show.

The Logistics of Logistics

Flying in a Foxtrot F-18 jet, Montana visits every hosting town months in advance and meets with local leaders and organizers to make sure they can provide everything the flight squad needs. There is the size of the ramp hangar facilities, flight plans, hotel accommodations, fitness center requirements, number of rental cars they’ll need, accessibility to the correct type of jet fuel and security at the show site. Montana uses the official Blue Angels Support Manual that has 78 years of expectations and needs to create a safe and memorable show for the 60-80 Marine and Navy staff that travel to every show as well as the thousands of spectators.

“It’s a lot of logistics. It’s a lot of resource management. It’s a lot of patience and organization,” Montana said.

The week of the show, she hands all that info over to the show narrator (Blue Angel #7) who reviews the checklist and makes any necessary adjustments. The week-of schedule has the team flying into town on Thursday. They practice. Twice. Then they typically do community outreach on Friday morning, like going to local schools and hospitals. They practice again on Friday afternoon. Saturday there is a flight demonstration in the afternoon and then another social function that night. Sunday is the show, and then the team packs up for the next destination. Rinse and repeat 32 more times.

The Final Flight

For a woman always on the move, eating a square meal can sometimes be tough. Hence her call sign: Lunchbox. Montana says some branches of the military have so many serious call signs, “like blazer, taser, phaser, laser, you know? I wanted to have some fun.”

So Lunchbox it is. “I’m a snacker. A communal eater. So yeah, it just kind of stuck,” she said with a laugh.

As she sets off to another city to speak with another group of leaders about another set of expectations and logistics, she sees the satisfaction that comes with all the work.

two people sitting in a Blue Angels plane
Lilly Montana and Scott Laux pose with a child in front of the plane
woman in Blue Angels uniform speaking to a crowd
“Sure, it’s a lot of work. But when a little kid comes up and asks to take a picture with me because it’s so cool to see a Blue Angel, I say, ‘I would love to take a picture with you.’ It’s usually exactly what I needed that day.”

More than 14 years into her career, Montana tries not to look too far ahead into the future. For now, she’s taking life one jaw-dropping show at a time.

“When my husband and I talk about our future, we just look at what’s best for our family. My whole career, I’ve been taking it one set of orders at a time.”

By Todd Deery ’90

Blue Angels Fast Facts

  • The Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, ordered the establishment of the team on April 24, 1946.
  • The name was picked by the original team when they were planning a show in New York in 1946. One of them came across the name of the city’s famous Blue Angel nightclub in the New Yorker Magazine.
  • The Blue Angels’ first show was at Craig Field in Jacksonville, Fla. on June 15, 1946.
  • An estimated 11 million spectators view the squadron during air shows each year. Additionally, the Blue Angels visit more than 50,000 people a show season (March through November) during school and hospital visits.

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