Mercury Soars With Eagles at Aviation Expo : Van Nuys: The desert-like, 108-degree temperature sends some of the 75,000 visitors looking for shade or first aid. The air show continues today.

Operation Desert Storm came to the San Fernando Valley in more ways than one Saturday.

More than 30 fighters, bombers and military aircraft displayed at the annual Van Nuys Airport Aviation Expo rekindled memories of the Persian Gulf War. A thermometer reading 108 degrees, meanwhile, evoked the Saudi Arabian desert.

“Was it this hot during the war?” one young boy asked an airman posted near an A-10 anti-tank plane.

“Hotter,” laughed the soldier. “But you get the idea.”

Such comments were typical Saturday as about 75,000 people strolled about the airfield, asking questions of pilots and snapping pictures of the sleek aircraft. The most popular features on the planes were the wings--they provided shade.

The heat drove attendance down noticeably from last year’s event, when the air show sported military hardware fresh from the Gulf War. In addition, smog levels in the San Fernando Valley reached “very unhealthful” levels, according to the Air Quality Management District, which predicted the smog would be worse today.

About 70 people were treated for heat exhaustion at the show Saturday--more than twice the number of last year, authorities said. Several hundred people also treated themselves to free ice water offered by busy attendants at the first aid station.

Four people were hospitalized briefly for heat-related conditions, said Red Cross volunteer Kay Schneider, including Tanya Howard, a West Hills woman taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center after collapsing. A pregnant Alhambra woman, Gorgina Reyes, 21, left with her husband after experiencing contractions at a first aid station, where she was taken after she complained of dizziness.

“We were just walking along and she said she was feeling dizzy. I think it’s all the heat,” her husband, Tobias Reyes, said shortly after arriving at the first aid station. “She couldn’t walk. I had to carry her until I got help.”

The couple had lots of company.

“I walked around for only an hour and I just started losing it,” said Amanda Jordan, 26, of Valencia, who nearly passed out while pushing her 3-month-old son in a stroller.

The temperature peaked at about 108 degrees, according to officials there. But many people guessed it was even hotter out on the Tarmac. Some visitors left early and a few were angry at having to wait as long as half an hour to catch shuttle buses to parking areas scattered around the airport.

But not everyone was overwhelmed by the heat.

“It kind of helps me forget about the riots,” said Lyndon Easley, 43, a native of South Los Angeles who now resides in Silver Lake. “Seeing this really revitalized my patriotism.”

Those in attendance adapted as best they could. Joe Fernandez, 22, of Pacoima sipped an icy beer while sitting back in the hull of a C-130 Hercules transport plane that was open for tours. Ron and Sonia Pope, both small-plane pilots from Van Nuys who regularly fly out of the airport, reclined in the shade under the wings of a VP-21 anti-submarine plane.

“There are some great planes here,” said Ron. “As a pilot, I appreciate them. But right now, I like the shade a lot. It’s just too hot out here.”

Times staff writer Julie Tamaki contributed to this story.

Air Show Visitors Can Take Shuttles

The Van Nuys Airport Aviation Expo continues today from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free shuttle buses will take visitors from five parking sites near Van Nuys Airport. The sites are:

* Harman International Business Campus, 8400 Balboa Blvd., just north of Roscoe Boulevard.

* Hughes Aircraft, Saticoy Street and Woodley Avenue.

* Marquardt Industries, Saticoy Street and Hayvenhurst Avenue.

* Family Community Service Center, 17400 Victory Blvd. near White Oak Avenue.

* Van Nuys Airport Industrial Center, Raymer Street and Woodley Avenue.

The disabled can enter the expo at the Van Nuys Airport service entrance, 8050 Balboa Ave., just north of the main entrance to the former Air National Guard site.