Skyward Bound -- Getting Ready For A Top-Flight Show

Sleek as a panther, the B-1B bomber slips into the Boeing Field flight pattern, screams along a few hundred feet above the runway in a high-speed flyby, and rotates in a steep climb, banking on one wing for a knife-edge turn.

Not far below, near the Museum of Flight, other military craft as well as antiques and "warbirds" wait a turn to fly in Emerald City Flight Festival '93.

This first big event of the local air show season, celebrating a century of powered flight, draws thousands of souvenir-shop browsers, aviation fans and cockpit-peekers. They'll gather from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow ($5-$7; free parking and shuttle from Flight Festival lots on East Marginal Way South included).

Highlights include the B-1B, the famous F-15 "Screaming Eagles" and a pair of F-16s. Also on hand is a red-and-silver P-51 Mustang, with that huge, four-bladed propeller; an F4U Corsair; and rare airliners including the Dash-80 prototype of the Boeing 707, which Tex Johnston flew past crowds at a Seafair hydroplane race in the 1950s.

The antiques include Bill Orbeck's patriotically painted DeHavilland Tiger Moth biplane and Eliot Cross' Waco "Mystery Ship," on which Lori Lynn Ross will wing-walk (at 11:30 a.m. tomorrow and 3 p.m. Sunday). Ross works without a tether while Cross spins and rolls the matte-black biplane.

Flybys, rescue demonstrations and other events are continuous through both days. Events include ground displays and educational programs, plus live music. Interested folks may fly an FAA Flight Simulator, and kids can sit in the restored cockpit of an SR-71 Blackbird.

There are two other air shows in the area this weekend. Up north, flight fanciers can check out the Northwest Experimental and Antique Aircraft Fly-In from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. today and tomorrow at Arlington Municipal Airport ($8; under 12 free).

One highlight: a replica Gee Bee, the 1932 racing plane Jimmy Doolittle used for his airspeed record of 296 mph in the Thompson Trophy Race. The air show runs from 3 to 5:30 p.m. today.

Over on the Kitsap Peninsula, it's the Bremerton Airport's "Wings and Wheels" air show. Gates open at 9 a.m. tomorrow, and the show runs from 1 to 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Here are the other major air shows in the area this summer:

-- July 17 and 18: Whidbey Sea & Sky Fest, an air show featuring Bob Hoover and other aerobatic pilots in a variety of craft, gates open 8 a.m., air show noon to 4 p.m., United States Naval Air Station, Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island. FREE.

-- July 31-Aug. 1: Seattle Key Bank Air Show, featuring the U.S. Navy Blue Angels and other groups, flying between heats of the Seafair Texaco Cup Hydroplane Races from Seward Park, Lake Washington, noon to 3:30 p.m. July 31, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 1.

-- Aug. 6-8: Abbotsford (British Columbia, Canada) International Air Show, displays open 8 a.m., flying show 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. all three days, Abbottsford International Airport. $40 a carload (up to 6 persons) or $10 per adult, $8 per child.

-- Aug. 14-15: Washington International Air Fair, antiques, military craft and warbirds, wing walkers and helicopters, static displays open 8 a.m., flying show noon to 5 p.m. both days, Paine Field, Everett. $12.

-- Aug. 28-29: McChord AFB Air Show, static displays and flybys of military craft, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. FREE.