EDWARDS' AIR SHOW, OPEN HOUSE WILL BEGIN WITH A BANG AVIATION GREATS YEAGER, ENGLE TO KICK OFF EVENT IN F-15 FIGHTERS.

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Edwards Air Force Base's annual open house and air show will run for two days to mark the 50th anniversary of the Air Force Flight Test Center.

Aerospace legends Chuck Yeager and Joe Engle will join up in two F-15 fighters to crack double sonic booms opening the special two-day event Oct. 20 and 21.

The two-day open house lets more people visit - possibly 150,000 each day, said a base spokeswoman, Staff Sgt. Stacee McCausland.

``There's a lot of people who come a long way,'' McCausland said.

Admission and parking are free. Gates open at 7 a.m. each day and flying starts at 9 a.m. Gates close at 5 p.m.

The flying schedules have not been finalized, but base officials expect the show to be essentially the same this year.

The Thunderbirds, the Air Force's precision flying team, will not be appearing this year, but base officials say visitors will see new and unique Air Force aircraft, and some of the best aerial demonstration pilots and teams.

A new feature will be a show by a civilian group called the 69th Battalion Special Operations Group, which flies Vietnam-era planes to re-enact a combat rescue of a downed pilot.

An AD-1 Skyraider, A-37 Dragonfly, OV-1D Mohawk, DeHavilland UV-18A Twin Otter, an O-1E Bird Dog and a Cessna O-2B forward air controller aircraft will take part. The act will simulate 20 mm cannon strafing runs, 500-pound bomb drops and a napalm drop.

In the air, spectators will be able to see a B-2 stealth bomber and F-117 stealth fighters, and other Air Force planes including F-16 fighters, B-1 bombers, and C-17 and C-135 transports.

Base officials are trying to schedule a flight by the F-22 Raptor, the Air Force's newest fighter. Even if the plane doesn't fly, it will be on display on the ground, officials said.

The supersonic passes by Yeager and Engle will start each day's activities. Yeager made the first supersonic flight at what is now Edwards in 1947. Engle flew the X-15 rocket plane at Edwards in the 1960s and made two space shuttle flights.

The open house showcases the aircraft and operations of the Air Force Flight Test Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Dryden Flight Research Center, the Air Force Research Laboratory Propulsion Directorate and Marine Aircraft Group 46, all based at Edwards.

Civilian acts this year include aerobatic pilots Sean Tucker in a Pitts Special biplane and Rob Harrison in a Zlin 50LX.

Among the World War II planes on display on the ground will be the last surviving aircraft used at Tuskegee, Ala., to train the the now famous Tuskegee Airmen, an all-African-American flying unit.

The T-6 Texan is owned by commercial pilot Steve Cowell, who discovered its history after he bought it four years ago from an Iowa banker.

``The plane started off as something fun for me to fly,'' Cowell said. ``Now it's evolved into something ... something people can go up to and walk around and touch.''

The Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards' main unit, was officially created on June 25, 1951, the same year Muroc Air Force Base was renamed for Capt. Glen Edwards, who had died testing a YB-49 flying wing.

Military flying had actually started there in 1933 when Army Air Corps biplanes used Muroc Dry Lake as a landing strip for a bombing range. When the United States wanted to test its first secret jet fighter, the Bell XP-59, Muroc's vast clay dry lake pad proved an excellent place.