KUNSAN AIR BASE, South Korea — Thousands of people watched as American and South Korean fighter jets swooped, dipped and dived over South Korea’s east coast on Saturday as part of the first air show held by Kunsan Air Base and its host city.

During the first day of the two-day air show, A-10s and F-16s flew in formation and performed tricky maneuvers along Gunsan City’s Saemangeum Seawall. Several aircraft dropped flares, Blackhawk and Apache helicopters staged a mock search-and-rescue operation, and special forces troops parachuted onto reclaimed land that used to be the ocean floor.

Senior Airman Brian Bisauta, a munitions inspector at Kunsan, said he’s used to seeing and hearing the noisy jets at work, but he liked watching them in a more relaxed setting.

"You know that they’re not flying missions," he said. "They’re just enjoying themselves. It’s fun to see."

The air show also included a static display of aircraft on Kunsan’s emergency landing taxiway.

Officials said they wouldn’t have an estimate of the crowd size until the two-day air show was over, but about 50,000 people were expected to attend an international auto expo held in conjunction with the air show.

Airman First Class Johnny Phaxay, a maintainer at Kunsan, was one of a handful of Americans who watched the flight demonstrations.

More than 200 Kunsan airmen are in Alaska for the Red Flag-Alaska exercise, and many airmen worked at the static displays on base Saturday.

"It’s kind of refreshing to see planes other than your own flying," he said.

Maj. Mike Briggs, an F-16 demonstration pilot based in Misawa, flies for audiences throughout the Pacific and said air shows are a strategic tool to strengthen ties between the U.S and other countries.

"It’s a blast," he said. "For 15 minutes, I’m flying for the pure sake of flying. There’s 15 maneuvers in the show, and I couldn’t do 13 of them if I wasn’t a demo pilot."

Back at Kunsan, South Koreans were allowed to make a rare trip onto the base to see aircraft brought in from as far away as Japan and Hawaii.

8th Fighter Wing commander Col. Bryan Bearden said the static display, held on an emergency landing taxiway on the edge of the base, wasn’t part of the initial plan for the air show but was added to "pay back the community."

A small village of farmers lives beside the taxiway, separated from the base by a fence and a few acres of yellow rice paddies.

"They hear the noise and see us coming and going," he said. "I wanted them to have some access here since they live off the base."

1st Lt. Dom Calderon, a C-17 pilot at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, posed as parents took pictures of him and their children in the cockpit of a C-17.

"People come up here, and they’re so excited about it, especially the kids. They want to know what everything does," he said.

Airman First Class Jorge De La Torre, an F-16 crew chief at Kunsan, answered questions from South Koreans about an F-16 on display.

He said many wanted to what kind of bombs the jet could carry. In particular, they wanted to know what the missile-shaped tank on the underbelly of the jet was for.

"They think that tank is a bomb, but it actually carries fuel," he said.