MILWAUKEE — By the time you hear them, the Blue Angels pilots will be flying above your heads in Milwaukee this weekend for the return of the Milwaukee Air and Water Show, the first show since 2019.

It's the Blue Angels first show in Milwaukee in five years. 

“It’s great to be over Lake Michigan. We’ve done Chicago a couple times, but to come back up north here and back to one of our best shows, we’re really excited to be here," said Lt. Commander Cary Rickoff.

Rickoff and the other Blue Angels pilots spend months getting the show ready every year, working on choreographing their turns and dives, getting everything in sync.

“We’re practicing [from] November to March, practicing just to get our show together," Rickoff said. "That’s why we practice so much, so when we travel from site to site, hopefully the only thing that changes is the ground below us.”

If you’ve seen the Blue Angels before — whether that was the last time they were in Milwaukee in 2017, or maybe at another show —  this show will be different, and so will their jets. The planes they'll be flying are their brand new Super Hornets. 

“While they might look like legacy hornets, they’re not," Rickoff said. "They’re bigger, they’re faster, they’ve got a little more power behind them. It’s going to look very different from what you saw in 2017.”

Of course, the Blue Angels won’t be alone in the Milwaukee Air and Water Show this weekend. The Air Force F-22 Raptors will be on hand as well. 

“They’re going to do some stuff that’s going to blow your mind," said Joshua Gunderson, the F-22 Demonstration Team Commander and Pilot.  

He said their combat fighter jets are used like a gymnastics team. 

“We joke and call it the F-22 gymnastics team. In terms of backflips and cartwheels, we do all those things," Gunderson said. 

Being able to be back Milwaukee to show off some stunts in the air — the Blue Angels and F-22 demonstration team hope to inspire people to join — all while having some fun along the lake.