BRUNSWICK (AP) – So many people poured into Brunswick Naval Air Station to see aerial acrobats including the Navy’s Blue Angels over the weekend that the base topped the previous air show record of 205,000 spectators, an official said Sunday.

Organizers believe the Great State of Maine Air Show on Saturday drew about 119,000 people – nearly double the size of Maine’s biggest city – and on Sunday about 100,000 people, said John James, spokesman for the Navy base.

“We were kind of blown away,” James said.

The Blue Angels said it was the largest crowd they’d performed in front of all year, James added.

An official estimate won’t be available until later in the week after organizers and law enforcement officials compare notes and review aerial photographs, he said.

Many spectators who crowded the tarmac wanted to be sure to attend what could be the final air show at Brunswick Naval Air Station. An independent commission has recommended closing the base, but it remains to be seen whether the air show was the last.

The two-day event featured the Blue Angels screeching, soaring and looping across the sky along with several of the nation’s top civilian stunt pilots.

“I love em. The air shows are just great,” said John Powers of Boston, a retired Navy engine mechanic who watched the Blue Angels for the seventh time.

The flight demonstration team’s last show in Brunswick was canceled days after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The Blues last performed in Maine at the Bangor International Airport in 2000. Their last appearance in Brunswick was in 1999.

The sunny weather was perfect for flying – and for watching.

But not everyone was happy to see the Blue Angels. And not everyone would be sad to see the Brunswick Naval Air Station close.

More than 100 peace activists gathered outside the base on Saturday to complain that military aircraft were being used as a recruiting tool. Many of the protesters wore stickers with the slogan, “Real angels don’t drop bombs.”

Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who held a vigil this summer outside the president’s ranch in Texas, had been scheduled to attend the rally. But she canceled earlier in the week so she could attend a different peace demonstration in Atlanta.

The fate of Brunswick Naval Air Station is not sealed despite the independent base closing commission’s recommendation to shut down the facility.

The recommendation was forwarded days earlier to President Bush, who may accept or reject the list or, by Sept. 23, ask for changes. Congress has 45 days from the day it receives the report to reject the list in its entirety. If not, it becomes law.

Lawmakers have never rejected reports in previous base-closing rounds.

Rick Tetrev, a retired Navy officer who led the local task force trying to keep the base open, chose not to attend the air show.

“It’s too painful. I can’t get over it, you know what I mean. It’s too disappointing, the whole thing. It’s too fresh,” said Tetrev, who oversaw three air shows while serving as second-in-command at the Brunswick base.

AP-ES-09-11-05 1748EDT

Copy the Story Link