BRUNSWICK (AP) – When the Blue Angels return to Maine next month for what may be their final air show at Brunswick Naval Air Station, peace activist Cindy Sheehan plans to be on hand to protest their appearance.

Officials at the base expect 200,000 people to attend the show by the Navy’s precision flying team, its first appearance there since 1999.

In addition to the Blue Angels, the show will feature World War II-era P-51 Mustangs flying alongside an Air Force F-16 fighter, the U.S. Special Operations Command Parachute Team, three world-class civilian aerobatic pilots, and a jet assisted take-off by a C-130 Hercules transport plane.

Sheehan, who gained national attention by staging a vigil outside President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, canceled a trip to Italy to participate in a Sept. 10 rally outside the main gate at the Brunswick base, according to her spokeswoman, Jessica Smith.

The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, Sheehan is scheduled to join a group of local war protestors who will march to the rally site from the Brunswick Mall.

Bruce Gagnon of Brunswick, who is organizing the rally for Veterans for Peace, said it’s fitting for someone like Sheehan to come to Brunswick and for the group to stage a protest to “stop the worship of the gods of war.”

Gagnon said fighter jets like those flown by the Blue Angels bomb military targets and he said the P-3 Orions that fly out of Brunswick help identify those targets. He said innocent civilians often end up getting killed as a result.

John James IV, a spokesman at the base, disputed the group’s claim that the air show is merely a gimmick to recruit young people into military service. He said the show is an opportunity to showcase military hardware and its mission in a meaningful way.

“It’s family entertainment as well as an opportunity for young people to inquire and learn about careers in the military,” James said.

A federal base closing panel voted last week to shut down Brunswick Naval Air Station, which has hosted dozens of air shows and Blue Angels’ performances since the late 1950s.

“This may be the last air show in Brunswick,” James said.

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