Countywide : 670,000 See Sizzling Air Show Finale

The weather was perfect: 89 degrees.

The sound system was loud and clear.

The breathtaking military flight demonstrations went without a hitch.

And two-day attendance fell just a shade below last year’s record 1.2 million people, even without postwar hoopla.

About 670,000 people braved the sweltering heat Sunday, donning shorts, tank tops and baseball caps, to watch the final day of the 42nd annual El Toro Air Show. The visitors came prepared, with large umbrellas, picnic baskets and cameras, as their Marine Corps hosts stages a series of military aircraft stunts that left them in awe.

For Lt. Col. Eric Jones, coordinator of the event, Sunday’s show was even more enjoyable than the previous day.

Unlike Saturday, when one event was canceled because of mechanical problems, Sunday came off without a single cancellation. And the show began and ended on schedule.

“This was the best of two days,” said Jones. “It’s the clearest day with the most people.”

Jones said this was the first year the Marine Corps had used a private company for the audio. The military sound system had been used for the last 41 shows.

“The audio system this year really made a difference,” Jones said.

The Marine Corps estimated that Sunday’s attendance, combined with about 500,000 people the day before, brought the weekend turnout to 1,170,000 people.

That fell just short of the 1.2 million onlookers in 1991, which set a record amid the heightened interest in the military that followed the Persian Gulf War.

Officials said 21 people were treated for heat-related problems, and there was one minor traffic accident.

But the heat and the traffic didn’t dampen the excitement for most.

Eddie Rodriguez, 41, a pastor in Orange, said the aviation operations and aerobatics gave him a newfound respect for the military.

“Being able to see the planes up close, you realize the danger our soldiers were exposed to (in Operation Desert Storm),” said Rodriguez, who brought 39 church members with him to the event.

Chip Peters drove all the way from Burbank with his wife and four children to see the show.

“We’ll drive a million miles for this,” said the 34-year-old private pilot. “We go every year to all the shows.”

And what a show it was.

The day featured more than a dozen performances, including upside-down maneuvers, 90-degree turns, and 360-degree rollovers by modern aircraft and World War II era planes alike.

Some of the highlights included a performance by the U.S. Army Golden Knights, who parachuted from airplanes at almost 13,000 feet, and by the Marine Air-Ground Task Force, which created a mock invasion including make-believe enemy fire.

Then came the long-awaited Blue Angels, the Navy’s famous precision flying team maneuvering in six blue-and-gold, $25-million, F/A-18 fighter jets. For forty minutes, they wowed the audience with hair-raising loops, rolls and turns.

While the Blue Angels performed, a group of Navy personnel formed a makeshift band, playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” as they cheered the fighter bombers on.

The Blue Angels grand finale was a fleur de lis in which six planes flew a loop in close formation, finishing the loop just as two other jets swooped down the runway upside down.

After all the planes had landed and the show had ended, the crowd inched its way through traffic, exhausted and exhilarated. Tracy Singh of Dana Point summed up the day best.

“It’s a great time,” he said. “Free, fun, family deal.”