AT AIR BASE, JETS DELIGHT FLIGHT FANS.Byline: JIM Jim Miss Watson’s runaway slave; Huck’s traveling companion. [Am. Lit.: Huckleberry Finn] See : Escape SKEEN Staff Writer EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. -- They came by the tens of thousands Saturday to see some of the icons of the sky in displays of both military might and aerobatic grace. And spectators at Edwards Air Force Base's open house and air show weren't disappointed, with fighter jets screaming across the horizon and performances from biplane biplane, aircraft, typically of early design, having two sets of wings fixed at different levels, especially in a vertical stack with the fuselage included between them. See airplane. aerobatics aerobatics Sport of performing maneuvers such as rolls, loops, stalls, spins, and dives with an airplane. As an organized sport, rather than as an air show attraction (“stunt flying”), aerobatics began international competition in 1960 under the auspices of the and the precision flying of the U.S. Air Force's Thunderbird thunderbird In North American Indian mythology, a powerful spirit in the form of a bird that watered the earth and made vegetation grow. Lightning was believed to flash from its eyes or beak, and the beating of its wings was thought to represent rolling thunder. team and its F-16s. ``I love it,'' said air show fan John Shoup of Van Nuys. ``I love being here -- Chuck Yeager and all the history here.'' In honor of the watershed event in the base's history -- Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier breaking of the sound barrier boom of plane heard exceeding speed of about 750 m.p.h. or Mach 1. [Aviation: Misc.] See : Loudness in 1947 -- the show opened with an F-16 popping a sonic boom. That was followed by a parachutist from the Army's Golden Knights team dropping onto the flightline Flightline can refer to:
The rest of the Golden Knight team followed, free-falling from an aircraft at speeds of up to 120 mph. The official crowd count for the air show's first day was just over 37,500, a relatively modest turnout, but officials said this is the first year they have used clickers to try to get a more accurate head count. Among the crowd were Joseph Strothard and his wife Badria, residents of London. ``I've always liked airplanes and this is a great opportunity to see them,'' said Strothard, who added that seeing the B-2 and the U-2 reconnaissance aircraft were among his highlights. ``I didn't think you (could) get that close, let alone photograph them. I thought the cameras would be taken away,'' he said. The Schraer family of Lancaster also cruised the show Saturday, including Hugo Schraer Jr., his two sons, Nathan and Benjamin, a niece, Odessa Hallam, and his father Hugo Sr. The family particularly liked the ``Heritage Flight,'' a formation flight by a P-51 Mustang, an icon of World War II, and three modern jets -- the F-22A, the F-15E and the A-10, also known as the tank killer. The aircraft flew in formation over the crowd, with the P-51 in the lead. ``You're seeing the greatest propeller-driven aircraft with the greatest jet fighters,'' Hugo Schraer Jr. said. That was also a highlight for Nathan, 12, who attended the event in a flight suit. ``I liked the F-22 and the P-51. The P-51 was really an important airplane in World War II,'' Nathan Schraer said. Odessa Hallam, 9, liked seeing the planes flying upside down, but could do without the noise. ``I'm scared of the sonic boom. I could feel it shaking my body,'' she said. Some performances focused more on grace rather than on raw power, including an aerobatic performance by a Pitts biplane and a performance by a wing walker. ``Wing walking is like dancing with an invisible partner,'' said Margaret Stivers, a wingwalker with the Silver Wings team. Wesley Maynez of Sylmar came to the air show with his wife, Terri, and their daughter, Ashley, 8. ``I came by myself last year,'' Wesley Maynez said. ``I brought my wife and daughter this year because I wanted them to enjoy it and for my daughter to see what the Air Force is all about. I think they get excited when they hear the roar of the engines and see the aircraft coming.'' But for Terri and Ashley Maynez, the big attraction wasn't in the sky but rather the hangar exhibits that included animal displays from environmental programs at Edwards and the Army's Fort Irwin. ``I held a millipede millipede (mĭl`əpēd'), elongated arthropod having many body segments and pairs of legs. Millipedes, sometimes termed thousand-legged worms, have two pairs of legs on each body segment except the first few and the last. ,'' Ashley Maynez said. ``It felt like a hair brush.'' james.skeen(at)dailynews.com (661) 267-5743 IF YOU GO The air show continues today with gates opening at 7 a.m. and the first flying performances at 10a.m. Performances will wrap up about 4 p.m. Visitors can enter the base from Rosamond Boulevard off the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. or at the base's north gate off Highway 58. For information, call (661) 277-3510 or go to www.edwards.af.mil CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box Photo: (1 -- 3) A P-51 Mustang, F-18 Hornet hornet: see wasp. , A-10 Warthog and an F-22 Raptor, above, do a flyby fly·by also fly-by n. pl. fly·bys A flight passing close to a specified target or position, especially a maneuver in which a spacecraft or satellite passes sufficiently close to a body to make detailed observations without during the air show at Edwards Air Force Base. At right, the famous Thunderbirds perform. Below, people get an up-close look at the B-1 bomber. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News Box: IF YOU GO (see text) |
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