Lieutenant Daniel McShane is a native of Charlotte, North Carolina
and graduated from Independence High School in 1988. He attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
where he earned a Bachelor of Creative Arts degree in 1992. During this time, he was on the Mecklenburg County
Aquatic Center U.S. Masters swim team. Dan graduated from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in London, England in 1995.
Dan reported to Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola, Florida in January 1999 for Officer Candidate School (OCS) and
primary flight training before transferring to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia for advanced flight training in the E-2C Hawkeye
at Airborne Early Warning Squadron 120 (VAW-120). He received his wings of gold in February 2001.
In June of that year, Dan reported to the VAW-113 “Black Eagles” at Point Mugu, California where he completed a
10-month deployment aboard USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in support of Operations Enduring Freedom, Southern
Watch and Iraqi Freedom. During deployment, he served for six weeks on the operations floor of the Combined Air Operations
Center (CAOC) at Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia during combat operations.
In June of 2004, Dan transferred to Commander, Airborne Command Control and Logistics Wing where he served as the
Assistant Operations Officer on the commodore’s staff. While there, he completed two individual augmentations to Yongson
Army Garrison in Seoul, Republic of Korea, as a subject matter expert and analyst for local operations. He completed the
F/A-18 flight syllabus with the “Gladiators” at Fighter Attack Squadron 106 (VFA-106) at NAS Oceana, Virginia in 2006.
Dan joined the Blue Angels in September 2006. He has accumulated more than 1,500 flight hours and 200 carrier arrested
landings. His decorations include a First Strike/Flight Air Medal award, a Navy Commendation Medal with combat “V,” a Joint
Service Achievement Medal, a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, and various personal and unit awards.
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