Ace World War II fighter pilot Arthur Fiedler motioned to the crowd that lined an airport runway Saturday afternoon for the flybys and photo ops at the Camarillo Air Expo.

"If we had lost that war, what would have happened?" mused Fiedler, 85, of Oxnard, an Air Force retiree and one of about two dozen ace pilots, navigators and bombardiers on hand for the event.

Maybe we'd all be speaking German or Japanese, he said. Maybe half the people who lined the runway three and four deep for a several-hundred-yard stretch wouldn't even exist.

"I'd like people to recognize the sacrifices we made to help keep the country free," Fiedler said.

Freedom was easy to spot on a lazy, sun-drenched day that marked the first half of the weekend expo. It was ideal for lawn chairs, sun umbrellas, camcorders and leisurely strolls among the myriad aircraft on display. Fiedler once spent a year in a tent in snowy and cold Italy during World War II, adding, "It wasn't the sunny Italy they always tell you about."

Some stationed along the runway Saturday recognized what Fielder and his cohorts did when the world hung in the balance more than 60 years ago. Madhavan Varadarajan of Newbury Park marveled at the machinery they did it with; these days, he noted, everything is supersonic high technology.

"I'm amazed at how much they achieved in World War II," Varadarajan, a 39-year-old Amgen employee, said. "These are slow, like turtles."

Earlier, he had looked at Hellcats, Mustangs and other fighter planes on display. The bomb bays were so small, he said, shaking his head.

Varadarajan came to the United States from India a dozen years ago and moved to Newbury Park in 2003. He had his family in tow — wife Shruthi and two sons, Ankit, 7, and Krish, 18 months — and said he planned to stop by the hangar where Fiedler and other pilots were stationed.

The Air Expo, now in its 28th year, continues today at the Camarillo Airport. The event is put on by the local chapter of the Experimental Aircraft Association.

Ed Burnham, the event's publicity chairman and EAA member, said organizers hope to draw 10,000 people over the two days.

Flybys, rides and other events will be featured again today. World War II weapons and vintage photos are on display. Pilots on hand include two Tuskegee Airmen and two German Luftwaffe helmsman; among the other aircraft are two B-25 bombers that attacked Tokyo in the wake of Pearl Harbor and a Japanese Zero.

Fiedler picked out a P-51 like the one he flew over Italy. He said of those doing the flybys this weekend, "I envy the hell out of them."

But for a moment there, a twinkle returned in the old pilot's eye as he looked at that P-51.

"It's the best lookin' plane on the lot, I'll tell you that," he said.