Now You See It . . . : Stealth Fighter Is Among the Attractions at Point Mugu Air Show

Air Force Capt. Jonathan Bachman came home to Ventura County for a visit this weekend, but it was no ordinary visit.

Bachman, 31, who grew up in Oxnard, swept into the county on Friday flying a Stealth fighter, the ominous bat-wing jet designed to elude enemy detection.

The first-strike fighter will be on display throughout the Point Mugu Air Show today and tomorrow, marking the first Ventura County appearance of any of the 59 Stealth fighters in the U.S. Air Force.

It will be one of dozens of attractions at the two-day air show that begins at 8 a.m. with daredevil aerobatics that start about 9:30 a.m. Admission is free but seats cost $5 to $20. This year’s featured performers are the Canadian Snowbirds, the precision-flying squadron of the Canadian Air Force. The Stealth will remain on the ground during the show.

Until recently, the F-117A Stealth was so shrouded in secrecy that the public had seen it in little more than a few photographs, mostly taken from a distance. The Stealth flew about 40% of the precision bombing missions in the Persian Gulf War, most of them at night.

This year, the black, triangular-shaped jet has been declassified enough so that it can be viewed and photographed at air shows around the country. Its skin is still a highly classified material and armed guards will keep the crowds at least 20 feet away.

“It’ll be nice to be able to show people what I do for a living,” Bachman said before making the 1 1/2-hour flight from Holloman Air Force Base near Alamogordo, N.M., where he is stationed.

Bachman’s parents, Marjorie and Benjamin Bachman of Oxnard, and his sister and niece were among the crowd of about 1,000 people who watched him fly into Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station during a practice air show on Friday afternoon.

Although Bachman has been flying jets for the Air Force for eight years, it was the first time any of his family had seen him in action.

Bachman’s sister, Marcia Sandifer, 41, of Camarillo said she remembered when her baby brother covered his bedroom walls with pictures of rockets, jets, astronauts and other pilots.

“It was just a dream,” she said. “And he’s captured it.”

Then, as her brother flew the Stealth over Point Mugu on Friday, Sandifer said: “I can’t believe he’s flying that.”

Even some naval officers, despite their Navy pride, acknowledged the technological grace of the Air Force jet.

“It’s an incredible aircraft,” said Cmdr. Tom Boothe, Point Mugu’s public works officer. “I couldn’t tell which way it was going.”

The Stealth’s flat bottom and unusual angles do not give viewers a clear sense of its direction like the curved bottoms and long wings of ordinary jets, Boothe said.

Its strange shape helps it elude radar detection. The Stealth is also designed to emit less heat than ordinary planes, helping it avoid heat-seeking missiles.

Boothe said some Navy officers had joked about making their own Stealth fighter display. Their plan: put three sets of wheels on the ground with a ladder leading up to nothing.

“I still think we should have done that,” he said, smiling.

Despite the good-natured rivalry, Boothe and other officers denied they were jealous of the U.S. Air Force jet that has so caught the public’s imagination.

Cmdr. Jim Reasoner, the Naval Air Weapons Station executive officer, said the Navy could not make use of the Stealth because the jet couldn’t land on the short runway of an aircraft carrier.

Bachman said he was mobbed after he taxied the jet into the display area. People pumped him with questions, but he said there is a lot he cannot say about the aircraft. “There’s still a lot of secrets,” he said.

The Stealth is not the only first for this year’s Point Mugu Air Show.

A 12-foot-long jet billed as the world’s smallest jet and an aerobatics team of four World War II propeller planes are also new this year.

But, where the Stealth is designed to be unobtrusive, these brightly colored planes are meant to be spotted from long distances and even in foggy skies. WeatherData Inc., a weather forecasting service, predicted coastal fog this morning and early afternoon, with clear skies on Sunday.

The BD-5J, called the Bud Light Micro Jet, is only 12 feet long and 5 1/2 feet tall.

Pilot Jack Eki, 46, said that once he gets the craft airborne, it flies like any other jet.

But, Eki said, “it’s kind of like a high-speed go-cart” when he is taxiing on the runway.

The advantage of its small size is that the pilot can make sharper turns and stay within the audience’s view even when the cloud cover hangs low.

The same is true for another new act, the Red Baron Stearman Squadron, a team of four World War II-era propeller planes that perform aerobatics while flying within 5 to 8 feet of each other.

Larger jets typically have to make wide turns and loops, taking them out of sight on hazy days.

1992 Point Mugu Air Show Events to be held today and Sunday at the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station: TIME: 8-9:30 a.m. EVENT: Third Planet band on Entertainment Stage TIME: 9:30-11:30 a.m. EVENT: California Air National Guard C-130 EVENT: Joann Osterud, Ultimate Aerobatics Demonstration EVENT: Shockwave Jet Truck vs. Joann Osterud EVENT: Warbird Flyby EVENT: Red Baron Squadron EVENT: F-18 Dynamic Demonstration TIME: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. EVENT: Lunch Break EVENT: California Air National Guard Band on Entertainment Stage TIME: 1-3:55 p.m. EVENT: Welcoming Ceremonies: Welcome by Rear Adm. William E. Newman EVENT: Flag Presentation by Navy Leapfrogs EVENT: Canadian National Anthem EVENT: U.S. National Anthem EVENT: Red Baron Squadron Demonstration EVENT: VX-4 and C-130 Takeoff EVENT: Bud Micro Jet with Bill (Burner) Beardsley EVENT: VX-4 Tail Chase and Bombing Demonstration EVENT: California Air National Guard Firefighting Demonstration EVENT: AV-8B Harrier Demonstration EVENT: Raven Demonstration with Wayne Handley EVENT: Shockwave Jet Truck vs. Wayne Handley EVENT: U.S. Navy Leapfrogs Parachute Demonstration Team EVENT: U.S. Air Force A-10 “Warthog” Demonstration EVENT: Canadian Snowbirds Takeoff EVENT: Joann Osterud, Ultimate Aerobatics Demonstration TIME: 3:55-4:25 p.m. EVENT: Canadian Snowbirds Flight Demonstration Note: Schedule is subject to change.