Six spade-shaped /A-18 Hornets wheel through the Salinas sky in a perfect line, carving contrails that look like Zen garden patterns. A moment later the six Blue Angels are soaring straight up, before they break apart to trace a fleur-de-lis of vapor, only to quickly pull back into their hallmark delta formation.

Soon seasoned aerialists Ed Hamill, Mike Goulian and Bob Carlton will take to the sky, performing barrel rolls, hammerheads, tail-slides and figure eights. Veteran pilot John Collver will fly an A-T6/SNJ War Dog, while Rich and Dee Gibson will demonstrate their pyrotechnical gift with their thundering wall of fire. And 40-foot Robosaurus’ stainless steel teeth will soon appear on the Salinas airport runway, breathing fire and ripping through an A4 fighter jet.

While these acts will be crowd favorites at this year’s two-day, three-night California International Airshow at the Salinas Municipal Airport, according to the airshow’s Executive Director Harry Wardwell, it’s the headliners who really give it lift.

“If people want to see a world class air show,” he says, “they need to come see the Blue Angels.”

This year’s show marks the return of the Blue Angels, who perform at 70 shows in 34 different locations each year, to the home of their creator, Capt. Roy Marlin “Butch” Voris, for the first time in four years. They’ll top a deep list of military performers that will stretch across all four branches.

“I love the military jets – the sounds of freedom,” Wardwell says. “The maneuverability of the jets is pretty dramatic.”

A burly four-engine Transport C-130 Hercules aircraft dubbed Fat Albert will represent the Marines at the event. Capable of carrying 25,000 pounds of cargo and 45,000 pounds of fuel, the Fat Albert boasts the ability to take off and land on runways nearly a third of regular length using four turboprop engines. Fat Albert will perform a jet-assisted take-off Saturday, taking off from a 1,500-foot runway and climbing 1,000 feet in 15 seconds using eight solid fuel rocket bottles.

The Golden Knights, the Army’s sports parachute team will spark the Friday night show, Saturday’s opening ceremonies. The free-falling aerialists trail colored plumes of smoke and concoct kaleidoscopic four – and eight-man formations, executing precisely synchronized spins and do-si-dos.

Civilian aeronauts will compete with the airborne servicemen for the most gasps. Plane walker Teresa Stokes hangs from the wing of partner Ed Soucy’s tricked out biplane as it flies low over the crowd, often laughing as she does it. Her climbs carry her all over the plane, though she’s smart enough to strap into a brace on the top wing for Soucy’s daring aerobatics. She closes the show by unlocking from the brace and hanging from her knees beneath the plane.

“The wind is really strong and it really plasters me onto whatever’s behind me,” she says, “so it’s like my secret glue. The view is wonderful… I wish people could see what I see.”

Necks aching from the barrage of spectacular sky stunts get a reprieve in the form of Robosaurus, a mechanical fire-breathing titan that crushes and chews cars with 20,000 pounds of force. Robo-pilot Mark Hays maneuvers the real-life transformer by strapping into a cuff restraint system that connects him to double-sided micro switches. The sci-fi inspired control system allows Hays – once he’s in place his movements are Robosaurus’s movements – to essentially become the machine.

“It’s like a video game, except I am in it,” he says. “It’s every little boy’s dream.”

The robot, which has been featured on television and has starred in the T.V. movie Steel Justice, as well as Miramax’s Waking Up in Reno, is a huge draw for kids, according to Mays. “It elicits a very real response from kids of all ages, you see this transformation of belief.”

Husband and wife duo Rich and Dee Gibson’s wall of fire provide a dramatic edge to the Friday night show. Using a combination of dynamite, gasoline and a range of other more sophisticated explosives, they create a devastating simulation of an air attack. The result is a belly-shaking wall of smoke and flames that reaches 1,000 feet.

All weekend long, meanwhile, the U.S. Air Force Heritage Flight injects history into the event by lending famous retired military jets to the runway to take off and land. The flight features the A-10 Warthog, a formidable twin-engine jet that was the first designed for close-air ground combat support, as well as the P-51 Mustang, a Hollywood-esque veteran long-range fighter craft that was retired in the 1980s from military production.

The collective assembled entertainment has only amplified the typical anticipation among local airshow heads. Lift-off can’t come quickly enough.

THE CALIFORNIA INTERNATIONAL AIRSHOW kicks off 6pm Friday, Aug. 7, at the Salinas Municipal Airport, 30 Mortensen Ave., Salinas (gates open at 4pm). Flying starts at noon Saturday and Sunday (gates at 10am). $17/adult, $12/child. 754-1983, www.salinasairshow.com