(U.S. Navy photo; via Auburn Veterans Resource Center social media.)
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UPDATE: The expected time of the flyover above the Auburn University campus is from 8:28–8:30 a.m. Thursday (April 23).
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By Troy Turner
The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels flight demonstration team will be conducting a special “Good Luck on Finals” flyover above the Auburn University campus next Thursday, April 23, during finals week, the school’s Veterans Resource Center posted on Facebook.
The flyover will include an Auburn graduate, Commander Lilly Montana, Class of 2010, flying as Blue Angel No. 8.
Students and others on campus are invited to gather on Cater Lawn, Nichols Lawn, The Green Space or Samford Lawn to view the flyover, which is expected to arrive between 8:28 – 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Updates will be posted on the Auburn University Veterans Resource Center Facebook page.
An Auburn Angel
Montana is a native of Vienna, Virginia. She graduated from Auburn with a Bachelor of Arts in political science and earned her commission as an ensign in the Navy.
Montana has accumulated more than 1,000 flight hours and has more than 180 carrier-arrested landings. Her decorations include a Strike Flight Air Medal, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendations Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, an Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal, and various personal and unit awards.
She was featured in a February 2025 Auburn Alumni Association article.
Set to go to a culinary school in North Carolina, she changed her mind after visiting Auburn for the 2005 Iron Bowl, the article shared.
“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 said.
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, and to learn more about foreign relations by getting a political science degree.
Nearby airshows planned
The Blue Angels have an event schedule already set through 2027.
Show dates and more information can be found here.
Included is a planned performance April 25-26 in Vidalia, Georgia, at the Vidalia Onion Festival Air Show.
(U.S. Navy)
Troy Turner is the founder, editor and senior consultant for AlaDefense.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. His bio can be found here.
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