First Air Show Was Impromptu
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Fifty years ago this June, I was stationed at the Santa Ana Army Air Base (now the fairgrounds) for my aviation cadet classification and preflight training.
About 10 a.m. on a clear day, four P-38s from what is now John Wayne Airport were “jumped” by four F-4Us. We now know they were Marine Corps planes from El Toro. A roaring dogfight ensued. Minutes later more P-38s joined, then more F-4Us. The sky was filled with roaring, maneuvering fighter planes--maybe 30 or more. Everyone at the Santa Ana Army Air Base was outside peering skyward. It was a grand show that, being an old Army pilot, I have to sadly say the Marines won. The F-4Us turned inside the P-38s and stayed with them in the climbs; however, the P-38s pulled away in the near vertical dives.
This young cadet never forgot that day, and I wager that thousands of others still remember the impromptu air show put on by the Army and Marine Corps pilots soon after the opening of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.
JAMES BURNETTE
Fullerton
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