EDWARDS BRINGING BACK ITS AIR SHOW YEAGER TO FLY AT EVENT THAT WILL RUN FOR 2 DAYS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - The U.S. Air Force's past, present and future will be showcased this weekend at Edwards Air Force Base's first open house and air show in two years.

After last year's event was canceled because of tight budgets and base personnel's heavy workloads, Edwards is bouncing back this year with a two-day event. Gates will open at 7 a.m. and flying demonstrations will start at 10 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday.

``Basically it's a cast of thousands preparing for this open house,'' said Maj. Carl Lewis, the public announcer for the event. ``There is an air of excitement here.''

The sonic boom that traditionally opens the flying portion of the event will be flown on both days by retired Maj. Gen. Joe Engle, a former X-15 rocket plane pilot and a former space shuttle astronaut.

Retired Brig. Gen. Charles ``Chuck'' Yeager will be flying in this year's event, but unlike in years past he won't be flying an F-15 fighter jet. Instead, Yeager will be flying a P-51 Mustang, the same type of fighter he flew in combat during World War II.

After the opening sonic boom, Yeager will be participating in a one-of- a-kind flyby with the P-51, the F/A-22 Raptor and an F-16.

The open house will have about one mile of aircraft displays. Among them will be aircraft representing the Air Force's future, including the X-45A, a forerunner of a future unmanned combat craft; the Osprey tilt-rotor transport; and the Global Hawk reconnaissance aircraft, a robot plane used over Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among the highlights will be ``Tora Tora Tora,'' a pyrotechnic show using vintage World War II aircraft to re-enact the Dec. 7, 1941, bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Another attraction will be a performance by Julie Clark, an airline pilot turned aerobatics pilot. Lewis described Clark's performances as ``absolutely awe-inspiring.''

NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center will participate in the flying demonstrations with four NASA aircraft - a modified F-15B, an F/A-18 jet, a T-34, and an ER-2, a civilian environmental research version of the U-2 spy plane.

Dryden aircraft on display will include the B-52B ``mothership'' used to launch research aircraft, including the X-15 rocket planes and, more recently, the record-setting X-43 scramjet and the Apollo-era Lunar Lander Research Vehicle. A full-scale mock-up of the X-43 and replicas of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Mars rovers will also be on display.

Also flying will be B-1 and B-52 bombers, the F/A-22 Raptor fighter jet, and the N9M, Jack Northrop's first flying wing. Other aircraft scheduled to fly include a World War II P-38 Lightning, the F-16 fighters, the C-17 cargo aircraft, and two Korean War jets - the U.S. F-86 fighter and the Soviet MiG 15.

The Army precision parachute team the Golden Knights will make two performances each day of the open house.

Jim Skeen, [phone]

james.skeen(at)dailynews.com

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The first CV-22 Osprey that was ever based at Edwards Air Force Base hovers as it comes in for a landing there back in 2000. This week the base will welcome its first air show in two years.

U.S. Air Force