A Flight to Yesteryear : * Burbank Airport, which opened in 1930 and was once the area’s aviation hub, bears Hollywood’s imprint.

Once upon a time, the Lockheed Airport (now formally known as Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport) and the assembly lines that cranked out warplanes next door thrived in an aura of make-believe.

Acres of netting, stretched from tall poles, canopied the terminal, hangars, assorted other buildings and the parking lots. Atop the mesh stood fake houses, along with wire twisted to resemble tree limbs and chicken feathers spray-painted to look like leaves. Tanker trucks spewed green and yellow paint on the runways to simulate fields of grass, wheat, alfalfa and corn.

From 21,000 feet up, it looked as if Hollywood’s set designers had worked their magic. They made the airport disappear!

This was World War II--when Southern California’s defense plants risked surveillance and attack--so it made sense to camouflage the Lockheed Corp.’s sprawling real estate.

The airport, then the area’s aviation hub before Los Angeles International Airport opened in 1947, served more than 1 million passengers on commercial flights each year. And on its runways, too, P-38 fighter planes and B-17 and Hudson bombers, among other aircraft built by Lockheed, were tested and serviced.

It was no coincidence that the wartime camouflage bore Hollywood’s imprint. Lockheed’s top brass couldn’t resist when a nearby studio offered its help, the offer made by Walt Disney himself.

That’s just one historical vignette told by Della Bertrand, who gives tours by appointment at the airport where Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes, Wiley Post and others flew--and where more than 3.9 million passengers last year, a record for the facility, traveled to and from U.S. cities and international connecting points.

If you sign up for one of these free-of-charge tours, it’s best to arrive well ahead of time.

You’ll need ample time to find parking space and to navigate the confusing ramps inside the multilevel garage across the main thoroughfare to the passenger terminal. If you park farther away in the economy lots, allow even more time.

9:30 a.m.: The ground floor of the parking structure is full. What looks like a logical path to the second level turns out to be--uh-oh--the exit. Now I’m heading out of the parking area. I explain to the cashier that I got lost and shouldn’t have to pay for not having parked inside.

The cashier understands. He tosses my ticket, electronically raises the exit gate and directs me to the “return to airport” lane.

Now I’m stuck in traffic going into the garage. On this second time around, my search for a parking space takes another 10 minutes.

9:50 a.m.: Treat yourself to a leisurely breakfast or brunch at the Air Hollywood Bar & Grill, the airport’s only sit-down restaurant.

Just as I find snacking irresistible, I cave in to food for thought. To me, the airport’s newsstand--and, for that matter, any newsstand--is almost like a public library. I scanned magazines here for so long that I could have been arrested for loitering.

Mementos? The airport’s three souvenir stands stock picture postcards of the airport, along with the traditional array of caps and T-shirts bearing logos of Los Angeles’ pro sports teams. And with Easter on the way, look for stuffed rabbits to multiply soon at a stand near you.

Now, our guided tour begins at the passenger terminal entrance:

11 a.m.: The airport opened in 1930 as “Union Airport,” operated by a forerunner of United Airlines. A Memorial Day weekend grand opening attracted thousands who watched air races and stunt flying.

The terminal would become the setting for many motion pictures (including “Pretty Woman,” with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and “Wings of the Navy,” with Olivia de Havilland), as well as the location for the defunct but once-popular Sky Room cafe, with its sweeping runway views. Ever palatable are prices on a 1958 menu: $2.50 for the “Smorgasbord Buffet,” 85 cents for “Pan Fried Swordfish Steak, Maitre d’Hotel Potatoes and Vegetable.”

(The cafe has been converted to a conference room for the nine-member commission that operates the airport for the three municipalities that have owned it jointly since 1978. They plan to build an enlarged, relocated terminal in phases--one by 1998, the other by 2010.)

Just inside the terminal’s main entrance, on the left, sits the glass-enclosed, noise-monitoring system room, which operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Here, amber lights--on a large aerial photo of the airport area--flash when any of 15 remote sites records excessive noise. Microphones on telephone poles at each site transmit sounds to a large computer inside the room via telephone line. The computer is said to distinguish aircraft noise from that of, say, motorcycles or trucks. If noise levels exceed 65 decibels, violators can be fined $1,000 or more, airport officials say.

Although noise remains a concern, officials stress that the airport in 1987 became one of the nation’s first where only “Stage 3” jetliners--those with newer, quieter technology--provide scheduled airline service.

Browse through the vintage photos and other memorabilia that adorn one corridor that leads from the ticket counter to the gates. A glass case houses a scale model of Lockheed’s twin-prop P-38J Lightning fighter plane (cruising speed: 420 m.p.h.), which packed four machine guns and a cannon, as well as five cameras. Another display case contains such items as leather helmets, goggles, a flight-log book, a stylish red beret--the kind worn by “stewardesses,” decades before they became “flight attendants.”

11:30 a.m.: Now step outside the rear of the terminal. Hold your ears, if you have to. But enjoy the sights:

* An Alaska Airlines MD-80 jetliner lifts skyward, a generic sketch of an Eskimo’s face emblazoned on the tail.

* An old gray hangar, now containing offices for fueling operations, is said to have changed little on the outside since the ‘30s, when Amelia Earhart parked her plane there.

* Fire trucks painted pale green (“Easier to see at night,” says tour guide Bertrand) are poised in readiness--purportedly able to accelerate from 0 to 60 m.p.h. in 25 seconds as they chase and spray stricken aircraft at the same time.

The airfield, Bertrand adds, is home base for private jets owned by Tom Cruise and Arnold Schwarzenegger--and for TV news helicopters and those flown by the Burbank and Glendale police departments.

As she talks on, a Boeing 737 jetliner shrieks into the chill, gray haze--perhaps bound for Seattle or Denver or Reno. It’s one of about 85 takeoffs per day at this airport--the nation’s 58th busiest.

Noon: From their perch in the control tower--90 feet up--a supervisor and four associates enjoy a commanding view of the airport’s two runways.

One takes charge of landings; a second does the same for takeoffs. A third is responsible for activity on the ground, while a fourth tracks all private planes.

This tower is 30 feet taller--and more remote--than the old control tower, which reposed atop the passenger terminal and had to be abandoned because it sat too close to one runway.

A little-known fact about the north-south runway, Bertrand says, is that it slopes imperceptibly--60 feet higher at its north end (or as tall as the old tower)--which gives aircraft a gentle, downhill run before takeoff.

Normally, the airport’s tours don’t include the control tower, except in rare instances when a visit there is specifically requested--but then, officials say, it requires approval well in advance by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Still, a tour of Burbank Airport offers an appreciation otherwise missed by hurried, stressed-out adults who travel. And it’s recommended for schoolchildren before they, too, become too busy stuffing suitcases, renting cars, catching planes--as tomorrow’s hurried, stressed-out travelers.

If nothing else, think of it as a window seat on a flight to yesteryear.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: Group tours (by appointment only) of Burbank Airport.

Location: 2627 Hollywood Way, Burbank.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. (Saturdays by special request).

Price: Free.

Call: (818) 840-8840, Ext. 400.