Blue Angels Bring Fans at Air Show to Attention

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 up into a sky that had just stopped sprinkling.

The planes screamed across the horizon--so close, it seemed, and then they spiraled up 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 Austin McIntosh of Santa Barbara, who expected to hit the 1999 Point Mugu Air Show twice more over the weekend.

On the first day of Point Mugu’s three-day show, an estimated 25,000 speed enthusiasts got a first look at the sound and fury of military flight. About 200,000 are expected to attend over the rest of the weekend.