Top-Flight Display : Vintage War Birds Wow the Crowd at Air Show

With the whine of vintage propeller-driven warplanes intermittently overpowering the strains of big band-era music, about 10,000 people strolled the grounds of Camarillo Airport on Sunday for the 15th annual Experimental Aircraft Assn. Fly-In.

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Several of the aircraft performed high-speed, close-formation passes low over the field, wowing the large crowd below.

The show was co-sponsored by Chapter 723 of the Experimental Aircraft Assn. and the Camarillo-based Southern California Wing of the Confederate Air Force, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to restore and fly old war birds.

“This is what we’re all about,” said Steve Barber, a Confederate Air Force wing leader. “Our mission is to show people--especially kids--the sights and sounds of some of the airplanes that helped us win the war. In a way, we’re a living history lesson.”

While many rare airplanes--such as a B-24 Liberator bomber named Diamond Lil and a spit-polished, mint-condition F8F-2 Bearcat fighter--were on display, the jewel of the show, a B-29 bomber named Fifi, was by far the crowd favorite.

“It’s just awesome,” Charles Hilley, a 41-year-old Ventura real estate broker, said as he emerged from the hulking aircraft’s bomb bay with his daughter, Torie, 4, in tow.

“All I can say is wow--it’s in perfect condition,” he said. “This is really a treat. I’m very glad we came out today.”

Hilley was one of hundreds who waited for up to two hours in line Saturday and Sunday to tour Fifi, the last flyable B-29 remaining out of an original fleet of thousands that were produced at the height of World War II.

Even though Fifi was reconstructed out of the remains of several B-29s, a BBC documentary crew of filmmakers was temporarily changing its name Sunday to Enola Gay for some aerial photography sequences to be shot today in the San Joaquin Valley.

The Enola Gay was the B-29 that made history when it dropped atomic bombs over the Japanese city of Hiroshima in August, 1945.

“This has been a very enthusiastic and historically well-informed crowd,” said J. B. Hudson, a Confederate Air Force crew member on Fifi.

“They seem to be enjoying themselves and they’re asking a lot of good questions,” said Hudson, a Virginian who flew 23 missions over Japan as a B-29 radar operator and gunner.

Elsewhere, spread out across the Tarmac was a mix of war birds, helicopters, ultra-light aircraft and high-tech airplanes made from strong but lightweight materials.

“The purpose of these shows is to introduce the general public to aviation and to, hopefully, get them excited about it,” said John Parrish, spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Assn., which founded the fly-in event in 1980. “We’ve had a great show and we’ve been blessed with some great weather.”

Parrish estimated the two-day attendance for the show, which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, at about 20,000 people.

The only mishap occurred Saturday afternoon when the landing gear on a vintage Navy trainer collapsed after touching down. No injuries were reported, and the plane sustained only light damage, Barber said.

Crowds were treated to tours of a C-130 Hercules, a C-46 Commando transport and two Lockheed C-121 Super Constellation troop transports. They also visited dozens of food, toy and souvenir booths.

“It’s been an enjoyable show,” said Steve Tack, a Camarillo aviation artist who works as a civilian photographer at the Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station. “Every year, it just seems to get better.”