PORTLAND — Julie Clark wasn’t the flashiest pilot in the sky Saturday. Her plane wasn’t the loudest or the fastest. Her tricks weren’t the most daring. But as tens of thousands of people watched her glide across the clear blue expanse, colored smoke streaming behind her, Clark hoped she had done one thing — inspired a young girl to become a pilot.

Forty years after Clark learned to fly, female pilots are still considered unusual. Clark, in fact, was the only woman piloting a plane in Saturday’s Oregon International Air Show. The 23rd annual event continued Sunday with Clark and 19 other aerobatic acts, including wing walkers, jet teams and a flying tenor. Air show leaders aren’t sure yet how many people have attended this weekend, but the show has averaged 75,000 spectators in previous years.

The show is so grand — thundering noise, imposing machines, death-defying tricks — that dreams of ever manning your own plane can seem out of reach. But Clark said it isn’t impossible.

“I always tell kids, if you’re creative, it can happen,” she said.

Father killed in plane

Clark knew she wanted to be a pilot by the time she was 8, when her father — commercial pilot Ernie Clark — sneaked her into the cockpit. A few years later, in 1964, when a passenger killed her father as he flew an F-27 carrying 44 passengers and crew, Clark decided to become a pilot no matter what.

But securing a job was a battle in the 1970s.

“Nobody wanted to be the one to hire that first woman,” she said.

But in 1977, Howard Hughes’ airline, Hughes Airwest, hired Clark to be the company’s first female pilot.

Restored T-34

A few years later, she broke new ground when she bought and restored a military T-34 and began performing with it in air shows.

Though she has flown all over the world, Saturday was her first appearance in Oregon. She rarely flew upside down. Her T-34 is heavier than others in the show and lacks the inverted fuel and oil systems that make such tricks possible. But restrictions like those mean nothing to Clark. They’re just obstacles to overcome.

So she flew as precisely as possible, executing hammerheads and vertical lines before twisting into Cuban 8s. She performed the second half of her show to Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.” As the song crescendoed, Clark’s plane dove through fireworks, shooting ribbons of red, white and blue smoke across the sky.

Hundreds of feet below her, spectators stood and clapped. Clark waved a flag from the plane, and the crowd settled in to wait for the next act. Little girls rushed to Clark’s tent, where she was signing autographs.