The Blue Angels acrobatics are back (pictures)

Zoom! The Blue Angels fly in formation -- high, tight, and precise. The 2014 season kicks off Saturday, March 15, at Naval Air Facility El Centro, in Southern California, which the daredevil flyers call home during the winter. It'll be a welcome return to form for the team more formally known as the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, whose performances were grounded in 2013 because of budget cuts.

This coming season marks the Blue Angels' 68th year of flight acrobatics, and the Navy expects the squadron to perform for nearly 15 million spectators this year.

The Blue Angels have been flying the Boeing F/A-18 Hornet since the mid-1980s. During their performances, the aircraft can reach speeds of up to 700 mph -- just under Mach 1.

Following World War II, Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, the US chief of naval operations, came up with the idea for the Blue Angels when he ordered the formation of a flight demonstration team, aiming to keep the public interested in naval aviation.

The Blue Angels performed their first flight demo in June 1946 at their home base, Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Fla., flying Grumman F6F Hellcats led by Lt. Cmdr. Roy "Butch" Voris. Later that same year, the squad transitioned to the Grumman F8F Bearcat and introduced their famous diamond-shaped Delta formation.

The name "Blue Angels" originated in New York in 1946 when one of the crew stumbled upon the Blue Angel nightclub in the New Yorker Magazine.

Here, the Blue Angels fly in the iconic Delta formation past the New York skyline on December 13, 2013.

Eli Lang, Blue Angels crew chief aviation ordnanceman, signals to Fat Albert, a C-130 Hercules, as it arrives at NAF El Centro in preparation for the 2014 show season. The propeller-driven aircraft is assigned to the Blue Angels for logistical support, including carrying spare parts, equipment, and support personnel between shows.

Blue Angels pilots line up for the start of the demonstration at the Naval Air Station Lemoore Central Valley Air Show in 2011 as part of the Centennial of Naval Aviation celebration.

The Blue Angels fly over the US Naval Academy graduation ceremonies on May 26, 2006 in Annapolis, Md., where then-Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at the commencement.

As part of San Francisco Fleet Week in 2007, the Blue Angels pass in front of the Golden Gate Bridge during a practice run. This year, the Blue Angels are scheduled to return to San Francisco on October 11-12.

A Blue Angels' F/A-18 Hornet flies inverted over Pensacola Beach while performing the double farvel maneuver during a practice flight demonstration before the 2011 Pensacola Beach Air Show.

A view from the cockpit looking back toward the pilot as he flies over San Francisco during Fleet Week.

An F/A-18 Hornet piloted by US Marine Corps Major Nathan Miller flies high above the San Francisco skyline leading up to the annual Fleet Week celebration in 2007.

Carefully choreographed flights often put Blue Angels aircraft in a strange juxtaposition.

Cmdr. Tom Frosch, from Clinton Township, Mich., commanding officer and flight leader of the US Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels, goes inverted during a winter training flight above Naval Air Facility El Centro in 2013. The photographer is inverted too.

The right wingman refuels an F/A-18 Hornet from a KC-135 Stratotanker.

The C-130 they call Fat Albert flies over San Francisco.

Here's a look inside Fat Albert, as the aircraft's navigator -- a US Marine Corps staff sergeant -- sets the altimeter during routine practice approaches on a May 2013 flight.

The pilots get all the glory, but it's the mechanics who help ensure the aircraft are in top-top condition. Here a pair of aviation machinist's mates at Naval Station Mayport, Florida, perform routine maintenance on one of the squadron's F/A-18 Hornets.

In a different kind of fly-by, a pelican appears to be flying in formation with the Blue Angels' F/A-18 Hornets in this 2009 photo taken while flying above San Francisco.

The 2014 season, which begins this weekend, will conclude on November 8 at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Fla. The Blue Angels are scheduled to perform 65 shows (PDF) at 34 locations in the United States in 2014 with an expected audience of more than 15 million spectators.