DATE: Friday, April 4, 1997                 TAG: 9704040053

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E15  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   41 lines

AIR SHOW SPECTACULAR SET APRIL 26-27

NORFOLK NAVAL Air Station will host its 44th annual Air Show on April 26 and 27 with two daytime shows and an after-dark display featuring fireworks, aerobatics, smoke and lights.

The nighttime show, the grand finale of the International Azalea Festival, will light up the skies from 7:30 to 9 p.m. April 26.

Performing in both the day and night performances will be Les Shockley's triple-engine jet truck ``Shockwave''; Canadian glider pilot Manfred Radius; Rich Pyro's ``Wall of Fire''; Steve and Suzanne Oliver's pyrotechnics-equipped deHavilland Chipmunk, the ``Pepsi's Fire Dancer''; Bill Leff's BF Goodrich T-6 ``Texan''; and John Mohr's airplane-to-helicopter transfer.

Additional performers for the day show are the Red Devils, Great Britain's parachute regiment free-fall team; Capt. Steve Sevier's Russian Antonov AN-2, the world's largest single-engine biplane; and aerobatics champion Kent Gorton and the Toyota Airsports Corolla, presenting a maneuver created especially for the show called ``Thunder over Norfolk.''

Bobby Younkin's vintage biplane Samson and Beech 18 will also perform, along with Ian Groom's Fujifilm SU-31, scheduled to execute 20 consecutive snap rolls in 10 seconds, and Tim Weber's YAK 55-M, executing tail slides and torque rolls.

Military units and vehicles will also be on hand, including Air Force F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters, F-15 Eagles and B-1B Lancers; Marine AV-8B Harriers; and Navy F-14 Tomcats, E2-C Hawkeyes and Landing Craft Air Cushions.

More than a dozen modern and vintage aircraft will be on static display, including a replica of the Wright Brothers ``Flyer.''

Back-to-back free concerts will be held at Hangar LP-33, featuring Jon Secada at 4 p.m. and Brady Seals at 6 p.m. Gates open both days at 9 a.m., with flying beginning an hour later.

Admission and parking are free. Beach chairs and blankets are encouraged. Prohibited are pets, glass containers, ice chests, bicycles and in-line skates.

For more information, call the Air Show hotline at 445-6647, or pull up its Internet website at http//www.pinn.net/airshow.

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