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Old and new will perform side by side at this year's Riverside Airshow. New attractions will include a heritage flight with a Vietnam-era F-4 Phantom, F-86 Saber Jet and F-16 Viper and an up-close-and-personal look at the U.S. Navy's newly modified F-18 Super Hornet.

The 18th annual Airshow, located at the Riverside Airport, will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 27, with an optional early morning pancake breakfast at 7 a.m. for $5. Admission to the airshow is free. Activities will include aircraft displays, air and ground exhibits, food and refreshments.

"New this year, we'll have a Vietnam-era U.S. Air Force McDonald Douglas Phantom," said Thomas Miller, airshow coordinator. "Only a few airshows around the country get this and it's going to fly a heritage flight, which is a flight with the old and the new."

Coupled with the F-4 Phantom, from Holloman Airport in New Mexico, will be a F-86 Saber Jet, from the Chino Air Museum, and an F-16 Viper, coming from Yuma, Ariz.

"The F-4 and F-16 will do some high speed afterburner passes," Miller said. "That'll be fun to see -- Vietnam era and modern era top-of-the-line fighters doing afterburn passes together."

The F-18 Super Hornet is the Navy's top-of-the-line fighter, Miller said.

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Kurt Miller / The Press-Enterprise

U.S. Air Force F-16 Vipers were part of last year's Riverside Airshow finale, and they'll return for this year's free airshow on March 27.

It will be part of a legacy flight with a WWII FM-2 Wildcat, which is a very rare plane coming in from the Lemoore Naval Air Station.

Returning favorites are Jon Melby, flying the "Pitts" S-1-11B biplane, Doug Jardine, in a Russian Sukhoi SU-26MX, and John Culver, in a WWII-era T-6 Texan nicknamed "The War Dog."

The Riverside Police Department will do a chase scene reenactment with a helicopter and the Corona Radio Club will do a demonstration.

There will also be a Classic Chevy Club Car Show with more than 200 restored cars and a military vehicle memorabilia show.

The day's activities wrap up with the C-17 Globemaster III flight from March Air Reserve Base. The C-17 measures 174 feet long with a wingspan of 169 feet, 10 inches, but it can take off and land on runways as short as 3,500 feet long and only 90 feet wide.

The huge cargo craft performs rapid strategic delivery of troops and cargo to tough locations.

The C-17s have been deployed from March to deliver cargo to Haiti and to airlift orphans after the earthquake. For the airshow, pilot Lt. Col. Timothy Harris will show off the C-17's three-point star turn and backing capability.

"It's just amazing to watch," Miller said. "It's a can't miss part of the show."

Reach Jennifer Dean at 951-368-9336, jdean@PE.com or http://blogs.inlandsocal.com/moms.