Air Shows

A 1951 British fighter jet crashed into a densely populated neighborhood near the Hillsboro Airport during an air show, exploding, destroying a home and killing the pilot. Fire officials said no one on the ground was hurt. The plane had been taking off to return to California, an official said. The pilot's name was not immediately released.

President Richard von Weizsaecker on Saturday led mourners in a memorial service for victims of the Ramstein air show disaster, and German officials raised the death toll to 51 after two more West Germans died. "Pain and sorrow are tearing at the hearts of so many people," the Rev. Helmut Pflanz told about 400 West German, Italian and American mourners crowded into the Roman Catholic Church of St. Nicholas. The service took place 1 1/2 miles from the U.S.

Aircraft ranging from World War II bombers to Gulf War fighters not only perform in the sky but also can be inspected on the ground.

Pinched pocketbooks may have contributed to a drop in attendance and funds raised for charity at this year's Van Nuys Airport Expo, airport officials said Wednesday. About 230,000 people attended the two-day event Saturday and Sunday, compared with 250,000 last year, said spokesperson Stacey Geere. Concession sales for local nonprofit groups also dropped from about $45,000 in 1993 to $30,300 this year. "I don't know how to explain it," Geere said.

The pilot of a World War II fighter was killed when his plane crashed and exploded at an air show near London, the day after another crash at the show killed two crewmen. Bob Etherington, a witness at the Biggin Hill International Air Fair, said the U.S.-made single-seat Kingcobra was one of three performing a series of loops about 1,000 feet above the runway when it crashed about 400 yards from the crowd. "At the top of the loop he just seemed to lose it," Etherington said.

The skies above and the roads around El Toro will be filled this weekend as the 42nd Annual El Toro Air Show comes to town. The El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is expected to draw crowds of between 800,000 and 1 million people to see such stunt flying groups as the world-renowned Navy Blue Angels, famed for their precision manuevers in fighter jets.

Six Americans were among those killed in Sunday's air show disaster, the Pentagon said Tuesday, as West German authorities raised the official death toll to 49. In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Dan Howard said that, of the six Americans, two were active-duty military personnel, three were dependents and one's status is unknown. Two days after Sunday's disaster at the U.S.

A British warplane performing at an air show plunged into Lake Ontario and burst apart Saturday, sending up a plume of water and debris in front of more than 10,000 horrified spectators on shore. The seven crew members aboard all were presumed dead, a Canadian Defense Department official said.

There is nothing to suggest that mechanical or structural failure played a part in a weekend accident in Toronto that killed the Snowbird aerobatic team pilot, Capt. Shane Antaya, the Snowbirds base commander said. Col. Claude Thibault said Tuesday that he is confident the 25-year-old Tutor jet is still up to the task of serving as Canada's primary military training jet. "You can't really say it's 25 years old," Thibault said in an interview.

Vintage aircraft, dog-fighting model airplanes, the Goodyear Blimp and a parachute team will be among the attractions of "Airport Day '94" on Saturday at Fullerton Municipal Airport. Among the aircraft on display will be the Stearman, an open-cockpit biplane used to train pilots in World War II, said airport director Roland Elder. Spectators can pay $15 per person for an airplane ride with the Fullerton 99s, a women's aviation group.