AIRPORT MARKS 20TH YEAR WITH DISPLAY.

Byline: Enrique Rivero Daily News Staff Writer

Standing underneath the towering spectacle of ``Camarillo Connie - Queen of the Skies,'' 9-year-old Eric Nicholson gazed curiously at the plane's massive landing gear while father Rick explained how it worked.

The youngster and his family had come to Camarillo Airport from Newbury Park on Saturday to look at the two dozen or so planes on display for the airport's 20th birthday celebration.

It was the giant silver 1950s Constellation military cargo plane that had caught his eye from the Ventura Freeway and it was the one Eric was most impressed with, inside and out.

``It had a lot of controls and big wings,'' he said. ``I'd like to fly in it.''

But the possibility of piloting it himself was another story. ``There are too many controls you have to work with,'' Eric said.

The Nicholsons were just a few of the several hundred people who turned up for the airport's daylong birthday celebration, commemorating its 20 years as a prosperous general aviation facility.

``It's a big milestone that the airport has been able to survive and prosper and grow and be good neighbors with Camarillo,'' said Janie Oberman, co-owner with husband Mark of Channel Islands Aviation, the first tenant to open shop after the airport's conversion from an abandoned Air Force base in 1976.

The birthday celebration was organized by the Camarillo Airport Business Association with the Department of Airports, said Oberman, who served on the event's organizing committee.

On display were restored military planes of all shapes and sizes. Besides Camarillo Connie and another, even more enormous Constellation, the mostly World War II vintage planes included a couple of Mitchell B-25 bombers, a British-made Percival P-40 Prentice Series I, and a replica of a Japanese Mitsubishi Zero fighter constructed for the 1970 film ``Tora! Tora! Tora!''

In addition to speeches from local government officials, the event featured a re-creation of the first ribbon cutting for the airport, with current Camarillo Mayor David M. Smith reading a proclamation similar to the one read those many years ago.

Oberman had held that first ribbon with Val Kunze, wife of Chris Kunze, the airport's first manager. Both women returned for the re-enactment, Oberman said.

``It was really fun - I just look a little older,'' she said.

Given the turnout this time, there are sure to be other celebrations marking future milestones, she said.

``I think the thirtieth anniversary will also be a big event - or maybe even bigger,'' Oberman said.

Oxnard resident Hugh King had worked at the airport from 1976 until 1988 and returned Saturday for the first time in about a year for nostalgia's sake.

He was particularly interested in the fate of Camarillo Connie, which he had last seen sitting in seemingly hopeless dilapidation in a field a distance away.

``It was open, the birds were nesting in it - it was really sad to see a plane like that going to hell,'' said King, 64.

Now here it was, restored nearly to its full splendor, gleaming in the sun and dwarfing almost every other plane on display.

``I thought they'd only get her out of here with a hacksaw,'' he said. ``These guys restored her beautifully.''

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Photo

Photo: Matthew Ospenson, 7, peers out the window of a Constellation C-121 during airport festivities.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News