47 Years Just Flew By With Air Show Finale

There was the final, powerful sweep by the Navy’s Blue Angels over the airfield, the strains of patriotic songs and an announcer’s simple observation: “A great air show. A great weekend.”

And then it was over. Forever.

The 47th annual El Toro Air Show ended with record-setting crowds of more than 2 million over the weekend who made a final salute to an Orange County tradition that has thrilled spectators over nearly five decades.

The show, which comes to a close with the slated 1999 closure of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, was marred Sunday when a 20-month-old girl tumbled about 15 feet through the slats of the grandstand, suffering a “gaping head wound,” according to Marines and witnesses at the scene.

The child, flown to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, was in serious condition late Sunday, undergoing surgery for head injuries, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Doug Overby was among nearly 900,000 spectators Sunday who attended the final “granddaddy of them all” under warm and breezy skies.

“It’s the best show in the world,” said Overby, a 50-year-old Newport Beach businessman who’s been coming to the air shows regularly for 15 years. “I’m sorry to see it go.”

Also battling the dust and the blazing sun were Ed Bowen, 60, of Laughlin, Nev., and Leslie Putnam, 42, of Lake Forest, who went together. Shut out Saturday when the gates closed before they could get inside, they wanted to be sure to make the event Sunday.

“This is the last, last, last one,” said Bowen, a retired commercial pilot, from the couples’ seats in the front rank of the nonpaying crowd, just outside the grandstand.

Putnam said flying had an almost inexplicable attraction for her.

“Once you’ve been exposed to it, you can’t resist it,” she said.

Arrayed under an umbrella and fortified with a picnic lunch, the pair feasted on the spectacle.

“Flying is the most gratifying experience you can do in public without getting sexual,” Bowen said.

Some, like Mike Hager, wanted to make sure they saw the show just once.

“We wonder why we haven’t been here for the last 15 years,” said Hager, a marketing manager from Yorba Linda. “It’s kind of sad that they’re closing down here.”

Early arrivals at the festivities were Armando Ordunez, 27, of Las Banos, and his friend, Dan Powers, 44, of Fountain Valley. They arrived at the base by 5:30 a.m.

“We made preparations to come two years ago,” said Ordunez, who had brought along his boys, Sam, 8, and Nico, 6. “You can walk through the displays and see history. You don’t want to let this pass you by.”

Powers said he had missed coming to the air show each year for more than two decades. “We always seemed to miss it. This was the last show and no way we could miss it,” he said, his feet resting on a big cooler full of refreshments. “It’s worth the heat and the standing in line.”

Tom Polley said he’s still hoping there might be one more show at the base before it retires.

“This is the fifth annual last show,” joked Polley, a member of Ray’s Flying Club out of Fullerton and Long Beach. “They’re calling this one the grand finale. Now I’m waiting to hear what next year is.”

Despite such hopes, Maj. Gen. Paul Fratarangelo, who commands the base, said this weekend’s was the last air show at El Toro. But he said the Marine Corps Air Wing, which is moving south to the Miramar Naval Air Station, will host a show there in August 1998.

“That will be our first air show there, and then it will be back to the April time frame,” he said, as the Blue Angels concluded their aerobatics over the baked hardpan that has been home to the Marine Corps since 1942.

Outside the show, the California Highway Patrol had its hands full Sunday as cars began snaking into the base the minute the gates opened at 7 a.m. Delays of an hour or more were reported getting into the free show.

The worst accident of the weekend was reported Sunday afternoon when the 20-month-old girl fell from her seat about midway up the grandstand.

The girl was sitting with her parents and other family members near the center of the viewing area, according to witnesses.

The USMC Search and Rescue team, on standby throughout the air show, administered CPR to the girl. A military helicopter flew the toddler to the hospital.

Orange County sheriff’s deputies shut down a portion of a street at the hospital to make way for the hulking Marine helicopter--which was too large to land on the medical center’s rooftop helipad.

The child had regained consciousness by the time the helicopter touched down in Mission Viejo, a positive sign, officials said.

The crowds at the air show and wide variety of planes on display, from a “Fat Albert” C-130 Hercules to a tiny rotorcraft Gyroplane, marked a far different scene from the first show in 1950, an open house that lasted about an hour and drew about 15,000 spectators to the base, then surrounded by bean fields and orange groves.

Over the years the air show grew to become the largest in the nation, and the grand finale was no exception, with more than 200 parked planes and 28 performances, including the Navy’s Blue Angels Flight Demonstration Team.

Through the years, the show survived traffic jams, heat, rain, noise complaints, a near-fatal crash and two crashes that killed three men.

In recent years, attendance records skyrocketed, especially after 1993 when President Clinton announced that the 4,700-acre military base would close in 1999.

Last year, the show attracted more than 1.8 million aviation and military buffs.

Perhaps the biggest attraction Sunday--as on Saturday--among the planes displayed on the tarmac was a single Stealth fighter, the F-117. Pilots from the Screaming Semons Squadron answered questions from people drawn to the state-of-the-art fighter/bomber. Unlike every other plane on the flight line, it was displayed inside a roped-off area guarded by Marine sentries with loaded M-16 rifles.

Used extensively in the Gulf War, the 60 fighters are deployed largely from an Air Force base in Nevada.

One of those up in the air Sunday was Marine Maj. Pat Cooke, 36, who flew with the Blue Angels. Cooke, who has family and a home in Orange County, called the day “spectacular.”

“The air was really smooth. Breaking out of the formation, I couldn’t believe the number of people down there,” he said.

“As I rolled out on the runway, I couldn’t help but think this is the last show I’ll do at El Toro. It’s very sad,” said Cooke, once based at El Toro.

The show will also leave a void for the participants. Five pilots of the Red Baron Stearman Pizza flying circus spoke with regret.

The Stearman flying show is sponsored by the nationwide frozen pizza company of the same name.

“Unfortunately, there is nothing else like it in the Los Angeles market,” said pilot Randy Drake, just before taking off for the last show. “This is the biggest show in the whole area. When this show ceases to happen, it will leave a hole.”

Pilot Jim Lovelace and announcer Jerry Van Kemp said that the people are what make the show special. “The people are dedicated enough to air shows to put up with three-hour traffic jams and stand in the hot field,” he said. “You don’t see that anywhere else but Southern California.”

Also contributing to this report were Times staff writers Geoff Boucher and David Haldane.