The Last Air Show

Living up to its name, the sleek, eerily quiet B-2 Stealth bomber swooped past hundreds of thousands of awe-struck spectators Saturday, covering a huge piece of sky with its bizarre, bat-like structure and adding a dramatic flourish to the 47th and final El Toro Air Show.

The bomber, making its first and only appearance at El Toro, was clearly a hit and one reason Marine Corps officials estimated they drew a record crowd of nearly 1 million spectators Saturday.

“It looks like something out of ‘Star Wars,’ but this is reality, ladies and gentleman,” an announcer’s voice boomed as the bomber passed over acres of tarmac and open field.

It was a highlight in a day of paratrooper stunts and daredevil maneuvers in old biplanes and modern jet fighters--all performed over a crowd already waxing nostalgic for the show and the base, which is due to close in mid-1999.

“I don’t know what I’ll do next year. Cry, I guess,” said Dario Moreno of Stanton, who came with his wife and two children for the sixth year in a row, and was prepared with a tarp, a cooler and beach chairs. “It’s just an awesome thing to see these planes.”

Today is the final day of the air show. Gates open at 7 a.m. Spectators are urged to arrive early; traffic jams Saturday were lengthy.

On the ground at the air show, grandparents and their charges poked through stationary exhibits of aircraft covering a span of 70 years, veterans stopped to point out planes they once piloted, and eager would-be recruits ran their hands over jets they hoped to someday maneuver.

Scotty Roberts, a former Marine Corps pilot who now flies for American Airlines, brought his own T-28 Trojan, a popular training craft first built in the mid-1950s. Roberts, who stores the bright orange propeller plane in Chino, said it had drawn a steady stream of nostalgic pilots throughout the day.

As if on cue, Chuck Nettles of Newport Beach, who once flew for the Marine Corps, walked up. “A Trojan,” he said, nodding his head. “Yep, that was the second plane I ever took up.”

Also taking in the display of aircraft, ranging from World War II vintage fighters to a state-of-the-art F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter, was Ron Ferrari, a veteran who was blinded in the Gulf War.

Ferrari, 29, of Downey, who was accompanied by his guide dog, Sasha, said he began coming to the air shows before his Gulf War stint and still enjoys the variety. “I like the static displays because I can feel the curves of the planes,” he said.

To take advantage of the enthusiasm whipped up by Saturday’s show, Navy and Air Force recruiters were out in force.

“It just inspires people,” said Aaron Clark, a Navy recruiter based at Mission Viejo, who said he expected 5,000 potential recruits to stop by. “Anyone who’s smart, we want to talk to them,” recruiter Terry R. Boyer added.

In the yawning cargo hold of the C-5 Galaxy transport plane, six stories tall and nearly as long as a football field, hundreds of spectators stopped to rest in the cool shade--and to marvel that such a large piece of machinery could get off the ground.

Among them was Chung Vu, 50, of Huntington Beach, who has brought his son Vince, now 14, to the show for 10 years. Vu was an infantry commander for South Vietnam before being evacuated in 1975, and he remembered many of the planes and helicopters around him from the war days.

“It was a painful time,” said Vu, “but a long time ago. Now I come because I admire the technology. I just like to look at the planes.”

Times correspondents Melinda Fulmer and John Canalis contributed to this report.