Power Display

The kids were wrestling, the dads were chatting and the moms were popping earplugs in babies’ ears.

Then the Blue Angels took off and all activity stopped.

Suddenly Friday afternoon the jets overshadowed it all--the noise, the wind and the hundreds of faces turned upward toward a sky that had just stopped sprinkling.

The planes screamed across the horizon--so close, it seemed, and then spiraled upward almost straight into the sky.

“That’s what I like, the power of the engines when they fly by. It sort of shakes your body,” said 15-year-old Austin McIntosh of Santa Barbara, who expected to hit the 1999 Point Mugu Air Show twice again over the weekend.

On the first day of the three-day show, an estimated 25,000 speed enthusiasts got a first look at the sound and fury of military flight, but that was only a fraction of the 200,000 expected to attend over the rest of the weekend.

“We feel strongly about being good neighbors,” said Capt. Steve Beal, the base’s commanding officer. “This is our open house, our chance to welcome the public and give them a chance to see what their military does.”

This is the first time the air show has welcomed spectators on a Friday, traditionally a day for pilots and others to practice.

“We’ve always brought all the performers in ahead of time,” said Cora Fields, a spokeswoman for the base. “We decided to take advantage of them being here. And now we can have a night show, which is kind of exciting, with bombing and strafing and explosions.”

On Friday, the weather appeared ominous right up until the Blue Angels took off, but the sun came out just in time for the Angels, who entered to a chorus of oohs, ahs and “look-it dads!”

For Blue Angels’ Maj. Scott Wedemeyer of Rockingham, N.C., this is all in a day’s work. He hurtles and rolls through the sky, feeling the pull of gravity at speeds that would make lesser men lose their lunch.

“I’ve been doing this so long it’s hard to put in words what it feels like,” he said before the show. “It’s like you’re being pushed down and up. It’s like the wildest roller coaster you’ve ever been on.”

And it all ends when his tour of duty is up at the end of the year.

“It’s like Cinderella come midnight,” Wedemeyer said. “At the end of two years, you’re back swabbing the deck again.”

That would be fine for Austin of Santa Barbara, who dragged his dad, Des, here and hopes someday to be a jet pilot.

Dad, however, isn’t so sure about the air-show thing.

“I don’t care for the crowds and traffic, but today isn’t so bad,” he said before checking out the Blue Angels doing what looked like wheelies across the sky. The jets appeared to have been propped up by the plumes of smoke shooting from their tails.

Elsewhere, children could wiggle through a Humvee, like clowns piling into a car, or take a virtual ride in a stealth jet--which offered a glimpse of the type of life Wedemeyer is used to.

“When I got in there, I really got kicked back into my seat,” said 6-year-old Ben Wright of Thousand Oaks. “I think the Blue Angels are cool. They do all sorts of fancy flips.”

And while there were earplugs aplenty, true air show fans seemed intent on appreciating the art of the boom.

Eight-year-old Bart Hendry of Camarillo, for instance, refused his mother’s offer of plugs.

“I like to hear ‘em,” he said. “It’s not the same without the noise.”

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Point Mugu Air Show

TODAY / SUNDAY

8 a.m.: Gates open

8 a.m.: Radio control model aircraft flying

10 a.m.: Opening ceremony

10 a.m.: Missing Man fly-by

10 a.m.: National Anthem and Golden Knights

10:15 a.m.: Warbird demonstration

10:35 a.m.: World’s smallest jet, piloted by Jack Ekl

10:55 a.m.: Super Decathlon demonstration by Kathy Ekl

11:15 a.m.: Leap Frogs, Navy parachute team

11:30 a.m.: MIG-15 fly-bys

11:40 a.m.: E-2C fly-by

Noon: USAF T-37 fly-by

12:10 p.m.: Combat SAR and SEAL team demonstration

12:30 p.m.: Bill Cornick

1:10 p.m.: VX-9 F-14 and F-18 demonstration

1:10 p.m.: Sean Tucker demonstration

1:30 p.m.: USAF A-10 demonstration

1:50 p.m.: Toyota AirSports

2:10 p.m.: Golden Knights, Army parachute team

2:30 p.m.: GeeBee demonstration

2:45 p.m.: Fat Albert C-130 JATO demonstration

3 p.m.: U.S. Navy Blue Angels