While Colorado Springs is typically Air Force Thunderbird territory, the region is welcoming the Navy’s Blue Angels to the airshow this weekend, marking the team’s first performance in the Pikes Peak region.

And among the Angels is a familiar face.

Marine Capt. Isaac Becker says he’s excited to share the magic of the Blue Angels with the community as the famous flight team is expected to take its stunt show to the sky as part of the Pikes Peak Regional Airshow in Colorado Springs this Saturday and Sunday.

“In many ways, this is a home show for me,” Becker said.

While it is his first year flying with the Blue Angels, it isn’t Becker’s first time soaring the skies above Pikes Peak.

“I lived here for four years, I went to CC (Colorado College), and I went through flight school here. (This show) feels very near and dear for me to take this passion that I’ve cultivated in the last seven years since I left and bring it back and show it off. This is very special to me,” Becker said.

The sold-out airshow, Saturday and Sunday, is put on by the Colorado Springs Sports Corp. in partnership with the National Museum of World War II Aviation.

Becker told the Gazette that flying a C-130 cargo jet, nicknamed “Fat Albert,” with the Blue Angels felt like a distant dream before going through the application process.

According to his online biography, after graduating from Colorado College in 2017, Becker commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Marine Corps. Since graduating from the Basic School in 2018, Becker has worn multiple hats in the world of naval aviation, traveling to Iwakuni, Japan in 2020 to serve as a copilot in detachments with the Marine Ariel Refueler Transport Squadron 152.

In 2021, Becker was promoted to Captain and earned the designation of Transport 2nd Pilot, flying missions in support of the 1st MAW throughout the Pacific. He first reported to the Blue Angels in September 2023.

“I knew it was a thing, I thought it was preserved for other people — more special, better pilots. I had a buddy of mine who was a flight instructor in Pensacola he encouraged me to go on.”

“When I came out and met the team and got the firsthand exposure of how magnetic the energy on this team is, I was immediately hooked. I’ve never wanted to do anything more in my life and I’m very happy it worked out,” Becker said.

For enlisted maintenance tech Chelsea “Kenny” Kendrick, the Blue Angels’ arrival in Colorado was also a return trip home, growing up in Aurora.

A sailor with nearly nine years of service, Kendrick told The Gazette that working with the Blue Angels as been a dream come true as she used to watch the team fly over the naval base in Pensacola, Fla., eating her lunch.

“I think anybody that enjoys what we do and wants to be good at what we do on the maintenance side, their goal is to end up on this team. From early on in my naval career I knew I wanted to be here,” Kendrick said.

Standing in front of a shiny, blue and yellow F/A-18 Super Hornet, Kendrick told The Gazette the aircraft is part of an upgrade the Blue Angels received in 2020, retiring their longest-running airframe, the F/A-18 Hornet Fighter, in November of that year.

“This plane behind us, this is our newest jet, the F/A-18 Super Hornet, one of multiple iterations of this aircraft that (the Blue Angels) use,” Kendrick said.

“This jet is just fantastic and it’s fun to maintain,” she continued with a sparkle in her eye.

The aircraft Becker is responsible for flying, the C-130J or “Fat Albert,” goes everywhere the team goes and even pulls some flight maneuvers ahead of the F/A-18’s take to the sky.

“It’s the Marine Corps premiere combat transport aircraft, so we can do anything from transporting pallets of cargo, transporting vehicles, transporting passengers, medivac patients — we can rig it to be a flying hospital. we also have external pods on our wings to refuel in the air,” Becker said.

Becker, Kendrick and the additional 158 members of the Blue Angels are not only responsible for wooing the crowds and serving their country, but also carrying a 78-year-long legacy.

Becker, alongside the nine other pilots who make up the current demonstration team, joins the over 272 pilots who have flown with the team since its inception in 1946.

“You definitely feel the weight of the legacy on your shoulders,” Becker said.

“When you meet the people from young kids to old adults who are so excited to touch the magic of the Blue Angels, you feel the pressure of maintaining that image and pressure of carrying on that legacy.”

“At the same time, I feel very honored to be a part of it, and not necessarily a part of that legacy but to really be a part of this team right here right now. The thing that wakes me up every single day and gets me so excited to go to work is people like Chelsea who are just super awesome to be around. It’s that collective energy. An opportunity like this only lasts a couple of years and you have to eat it up every single day,” Becker continued.

The Pikes Peak Regional Airshow is expected to welcome 30,000 spectators to Colorado Springs with planes anticipated to take off from the Colorado Springs Airport shortly after 10 a.m. both days.

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