The view from the ground ought to be just as spectacular tomorrow and Sunday for "Blues on the Bay," a Marine Corps-Navy air show that will feature eye-popping and ear-splitting afternoon performances by the seven Hornets of the Navy's Blue Angels demonstration team.

It's the first air show to be held at Marine Corps Base Hawai'i in 20 years. The last time the Blue Angels performed in the state was in 1995 at Barbers Point.

The gates open at 10 a.m. and the show starts at 11:45 a.m., with two full days of civilian and military aircraft offerings.

On display on the Marine base tarmac will be aircraft including the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, a C-17 Globemaster III cargo carrier — eight of which will be based at Hickam Air Force Base in 2006 — and civilian craft.

There will also be a demonstration of Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel (TRAP); a Navy SEAL team parachute jump; a U.S. Coast Guard search-and-rescue demonstration; and a simulated assault by a team of Marines and sailors hitting the beach and storming the runway.

In contrast to the precision speed of the Blue Angels, aerobatic pilots including Patty Wagstaff, a National Aviation Hall of Fame inductee, will be throwing their aircraft through the air in maneuvers that appear to be out of control.

"I hope (people) will come out here and be moved by the performance and what we represent — which is the forward-deployed sailors and Marines who are out there not spending a week in Hawai'i," Varner said.

In his second year with the Blue Angels, Varner, who flies "slot" at the back of the diamond shape the group demonstrates, said all the pilots bring combat experience to the team.

In 1999, Varner dropped bombs in Iraq during Operation Gunsmoke while flying off the aircraft carrier USS Constellation and enforcing the no-fly zones there. "I was shot at a whole lot more than I was able to shoot back," he said.

Officers typically are part of the Blue Angels for three years, flying for two of those years. Varner said it's been a great job, but he's looking forward to returning to the fleet, where there are other challenges.

"It's not like this is the pinnacle, this is all the excitement, and I'll go back and just be a naval aviator," he said. "No, landing on an aircraft carrier at night is challenging as well, believe me."

The Blue Angels perform a multitude of unbelievable maneuvers — some with a plane's canopy just 18 inches below the wing of the next plane.

"You don't take in much scenery," Varner admits.

Among the demonstrations by the team will be the "sneak pass" at 630 mph — nearly the speed of sound.

The Angels, who fly for about 45 minutes, will be the last performance of the day. The show ends at 4:30 p.m. Although the fliers will be crisscrossing Kane'ohe and Kailua, the best place to watch them will be from the flight line at the Marine Corps base, said spokesman Capt. Chris Perrine.

"A lot of the neat stuff is very low — close to the flight deck right by the spectators," Perrine said. "Really, the best bet is to come here on the base."

The Marines are expecting tens of thousands of spectators. Martin McMorrow will be one of them. The Kane'ohe man confesses to being a Blue Angels "stalker," and has seen them a dozen times on the Mainland.

"I think they're better than the (Air Force) Thunderbirds," said McMorrow, 65. "Maybe 35 years in a Navy uniform influence me, plus my son is in flight school and my daughter is a Naval Academy graduate. It's exciting. I don't think anyone who saw it once would say, 'I don't have to see it again.' It's real-time excitement."

Not everyone is thrilled with the Blue Angels' practice runs, however. Dolores Zerda-Bishop, who also lives in Kane'ohe, said she doesn't like the noise and is concerned about safety.

"I don't think they should have them flying and training and practicing over a populated area like Kane'ohe," she said.

The event is free and parking will be offered on base with a shuttle, as well as at Bellows Air Force Station with a regular shuttle. Pets, skateboards and bikes are not allowed. Strollers and lawn chairs are OK.

More information can be found at www.bluesonthebay.org.