USSOCOM planners designated the 1st SOW to support both the JSOTF and conventional forces in the operation. The 1st SOW commander, Col George Gray, would lead his force of over 500 Airmen with 9 AC-130A/Hs, 3 MC-130Es, 2 HC-130s, 4 MH-60s, and 5 MH-53Js. On 18 December, Lt Col Gary Weikel, the 20th SOS commander, was aboard one of the MC-130s with the command element. Lt Col Mike Russell, the 20th SOS director of operations, led the Pave Lows and three US Army MH-47s as they flew nonstop from Hurlburt with HC-130 tankers to the Canal Zone. Capt Tom Trask was aboard Russell’s aircraft as a relief pilot and additional pilot for the operation. All of the Paves had extra crews, ammunition, and maintenance equipment in their cargo compartments because Weikel anticipated 24/7 operations and hard flying. Many of his crews had already flown in Panama because of the frequent deployments there, and Weikel felt an added confidence in his aircraft because he knew that they had been partly optimized for Central American operations since the Pave Low’s earliest operational testing.

Capt Jack Hester and Capt Joe Becker were flying the number three aircraft in the Pave Low flight. The formation flew through quite a bit of weather to get to Panama. During one of the refuelings, they climbed up to 10,000 feet to conduct it in the clear. The CH-47s did not need to refuel and stayed down at low level, below the weather. When the Pave Lows all had their fuel, the flight descended back into the weather to rejoin the CH-47s below. As Hester and Becker were descending, Hester experienced severe vertigo, and Becker took control of the aircraft. Unfortunately, their windscreen fogged up as they descended, and they lost sight of the other aircraft. Of necessity, Becker then turned the aircraft away from the flight as per the “lost wingman” procedures and announced his predicament on the radio. They then climbed back up above the clouds and watched as the rest of the flight also popped up into the clear air. Once they were reestablished as a formation, they were able to descend back down to rejoin the CH-47s. The entire process took about 100 miles but was just one part of the 14-hour flight.

Capt Steve Otto and Capt Bob Leonik were flying another Pave Low. As they were getting ready to go at Hurlburt, their assigned extra pilot could not be contacted. They spotted Capt Mike Kingsley, who was out on the ramp preflighting spare aircraft. He was not slated to deploy because he had scheduled some leave for a family reunion in California. His wife and child had already departed, and he intended to leave the next day. However, as directed, he had reported to the squadron with all of his required mobility equipment. He was ordered to board Otto’s aircraft and flew as their relief pilot on the flight to Panama. Above the flight of Pave Lows and CH-47s heading south, a gaggle of over 250 USAF aircraft of all varieties was moving the massive force into the small country.

Arriving at Howard AFB, Panama, the Pave Low teams went into crew rest at a house on base for anticipated operation within 24 hours. For the last several months, the 20th had been training with several special ground units to conduct a grand raid to capture Noriega at his big villa, possibly obviating any other significant operations. The unit participated in several full rehearsals, even from home station, flying all night to an old Army maneuver area in Louisiana, where a replica of one of Noriega’s hacienda locations was constructed. The members of the 20th arrived in Panama ready to do the mission. In fact, the conduct of a big, fully orchestrated grand mission—the “Big Mish” as some called it—had been in a way the stock in trade for the 20th since Honey Badger. Trask had flown in the rehearsals but would be preempted on the mission by Colonel Russell. The five designated crews were ready to go.

In the early morning hours of 20 December, US forces attacked the PDF and “dignity battalions” of street thugs at locations and facilities across the country. US Army Rangers and a brigade from the 82d Airborne Division parachuted onto the Torrijos-Tocumen Airport and several other sites. In conjunction with several other conventional force task forces and the special operations elements, they overwhelmed the Panamanian forces. In one especially vicious engagement, US ground and air forces, including AC-130s, attacked a strong Panamanian force in La Comandancia, the PDF headquarters, and literally destroyed the facility. Several of the Pave Low crew members climbed up on the roof of their quarters and watched the gunships work. It was not hard to see since it was only two miles away.

However, when the attacks were launched, intelligence sources indicated that Noriega had gone into hiding, and the big raid on Noriega’s villa was cancelled. The Pave Low crews were told to stand by for tasking. Needless to say, the disappointment within the Pave Low ranks was palpable. Russell recalled the impact on the crews: “That mission was cancelled. [Headquarters] went into an ad hoc mission [mode]; they put us into crew rest, and the planning group came up with a mission. You put crews against it; you planned, worked with the customer, and flew the mission. We spent the next week doing that.”

US forces were organized into task forces of varied sizes. From the initiation of combat operations, the Pave Low crews were told to be ready to support Task Force Red (75th Ranger Regiment), Task Forces Green and Black (other Army special operations forces), and Task Forces Blue and White (Navy SEAL Team 4 and special boat units). With no idea how long the operation would last, Russell then split his force into night and day crews. They were ordered back into crew rest so that they would be ready to go in 12 hours. Capt Mike Kingsley was paired as a copilot with Capt Tim Minish as a day crew.

At the initiation of hostilities, the Pave Lows began to receive taskings. Captain Hester and crew were first to fly. He joined with two MH-60s led by Capt Gene Haase from the 55th SOS. Hester’s aircraft had been configured as the medevac aircraft for the raid on Noriega’s villa, and he launched to carry several soldiers to support Navy SEAL Team 4, badly shot up at the Paitilla Airfield, until it could be extracted. He could also provide gun support for the SEALs with his .50-caliber machine guns, which were more powerful than the miniguns the MH-60 carried. Flying with Hester was SSgt Dave Duffy as the left gunner. He saw more than his share of enemy gunfire that night. However, he did not return fire because all of the incoming was inaccurate. Instead, the crew trusted the cover of the darkness. This was the first-ever actual combat mission for a Pave Low.

Captain Trask and crew launched to track a helicopter thought to possibly be carrying Noriega. After completing that assignment, he and the crew began to respond to continuous taskings until they were out of fuel and had to return to base. Pave Low crews were then directed to insert small teams and snipers at locations in Panama City. Capt Tom Aldrich and Major Gene Correll and crew were next to go. They launched with a load of reinforcements for raiding forces that secured the key Pacora River Bridge northeast of the city, attacked several prisons, and released American and Panamanian hostages. Furthermore, they provided overhead direct fire support for SEAL teams at Paitilla Airfield so that Noriega could not use a private aircraft based there to escape.

Captain Trask and his crew also conducted several fire support missions. At one point, Trask’s gunners asked him what rules of engagement (ROE) to use for determining when or when not to fire their guns. No one had given Trask any ROEs. He thought for a moment and then concocted what he thought sounded reasonable based upon previous training and experiences. He so instructed his gunners, and they followed his rules explicitly. He could not have been prouder of them.

On the second day of the operation, Pave Lows supported Army Ranger operations at the Tocumen Airport and exfiltrated soldiers from a sharp fight at the Pacora River Bridge. Captain Trask and his crew flew another support mission for Navy SEALs at Paitilla, as did Aldrich and Correll. Both crews flew top cover for the SEALs to prevent snipers from firing at them as other SEALs in rubber boats resupplied their unit. That night, Capt Randy O’Boyle led two Pave Lows carrying a force of 174 heavily armed Army Rangers and other special forces units to the American Embassy when it was threatened by Panamanian forces. Trask and his crew flew as part of a larger formation of helicopters carrying 140 troops sent to secure a bunker where Noriega was reported to be located. However, the mission was aborted when, again, intelligence reported that Noriega had moved.

Capt Lou Caporicci and Captain Becker supported another SEAL operation but in a different way. The SEALS wanted to use an MH-6 to quietly insert a small team into a beach house. However, the MH-6 did not have any precision navigation capability. Consequently, Caporicci and crew used their GPS and the TF/TA radar to vector the “Little Bird” crew to the target and then break off so as not to alert the defenders. The Pave Lows and crews could be utilized to do many things, giving new meaning to the motto “Pave Low leads.”

Pave Lows were used in another mission when they combined with a mixed fleet of helicopters to move 150 Rangers to attack the Caldera Airfield so that Noriega and his senior leaders could not use it to flee. They orbited over the Ranger force to provide direct fire support and engaged and destroyed some Panamanian antiaircraft guns that tried to challenge them. Capts Rob Schmaltz and Mike Kingsley flew one of these missions. They picked up their Rangers in the enclosed quadrangle of square-shaped barracks. As they attempted to take off, though, they realized that they were too heavy to get up and over the building. Kingsley was flying and followed the guidance of his scanners as they talked him down onto the helipad. His seat flight engineer then calculated how many Rangers had to dismount to allow a safe takeoff. He told the pilots, “If we estimate that each Ranger weighs 300 pounds with their ruck [sic] and everything, we’ll be able to reduce our weight by 1,500 pounds, and we should be able to get over the barracks.” They immediately unloaded five Rangers, and the heavily laden aircraft then cleared the high walls. Kingsley was deeply impressed with his crew, remembering, “The coordination was amazing with the gunners and flight engineers . . . being able to safely guide our helicopter. Throughout my career . . . my life has been saved many times by these brave men in the back of the helicopter.”

However, Weikel was upset with this operation. It was conducted during the day, when his aircraft and crews were much more vulnerable. He felt that they should have had escorting fighters or gunships, a lesson hard learned in SEA. He was also appalled at the poor communications procedures between the various units. Operation Urgent Fury had highlighted the necessity of joint communication capability, and the USAF and USSOCOM had purchased outstanding radios for their units. However, radio discipline among the units was almost nonexistent, with callers interrupting one another constantly and not using proper, complete call signs. The sloppiness caused a great deal of confusion in far too many instances.

Monitoring the action closely, Weikel called back to the 20th and had it prepare six more Pave Lows, crews, and support personnel for deployment to Panama. Weikel wanted to bring them down because he was especially concerned about the wear and tear on his airmen, as he and Russell adjusted the squadron operations schedule to allow for 24/7 operations for an undetermined length of time. Despite his efforts, JSOC headquarters refused the request, and the extra helicopters and personnel were not deployed.

Lt Col Russell had to do some creative scheduling to provide for 24/7 operations. This was critical because after two days of heavy fighting, helicopter support was becoming scarce. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment had also deployed significant assets to Just Cause: 22 A/MH-6s, 7 CH-47s, and 19 MH-60s. However, each aircraft brought only one crew vice the two per aircraft that the 20th SOS brought. Consequently, after about 36 hours of continuous operations, the 160th commander, Col William Miller, had to ground his crews for necessary crew rest. Regardless, the Pave Lows continued to fly.

As the fighting tapered off, the Paves began to receive taskings to fly logistical missions and sat alert to fly medevac. Pave Lows used their precision navigation system to lead forces dispatched to other cities and locations throughout the country as the search for Noriega and his key commanders widened. Working closely with AC-130s and Army attack helicopters, they covered special forces ground units as they convinced Panamanian units to surrender. Two Pave Lows also supported special forces units that attacked and defeated Panamanian elements at a major military compound near the small city of La Coronada, 20 miles west of Panama City, and other classified missions.

Within four days all operational objectives were met, and the governmental leaders elected in May 1989 were rightfully installed in office. At that point, General Thurman’s focus shifted to rounding up the scattered and disparate remnants of the PDF and capturing Noriega, who had sought refuge in the Papal Nuncio in Panama City.

On 23 December, Pave Lows carried Army forces as they conducted a raid on PDF facilities at Playa Coronado. That same day, two Pave Lows inserted a force into Panama City to recover several Panamanian hostages and supported a task force pursuing dispirited enemy elements at Nueva Guerre. Throughout, too, the Pave Lows received constant requests to fly general support missions for the various task forces.

On 24 December, Captains Trask and Becker flew a mission with CMSgt Tom Green as flight engineer and SSgt Jim Kradel as one of the gunners to carry a special forces element to capture a “Major Hernandez,” reportedly a high-level intelligence officer in the Noriega regime. The crew flew two sorties in support of the operation, which netted Hernandez and three other enemy soldiers. On most missions the Pave Lows would be leading the task force, taking advantage of their precision navigation capability. However, after the first day, there was little actual combat. Like Kradel, most gunners never fired their weapons.

As the Panamanian forces dispersed, General Thurman was concerned that a residual force would move into the high mountains in the western sections of the country and develop a guerilla force to be led by Noriega. He initiated Operation Surrender, designed to talk enemy forces into peacefully laying down their weapons.

On Christmas Day, Colonel Weikel, Captain Otto, and crew were directed to fly a reconnaissance mission to look for evidence of enemy activity. They took off with several Army special forces troops on board and proceeded along the Pacific coast before turning inland west of the city of David. The crew then had to maneuver to avoid rain showers and thunderstorms as they climbed above the rising terrain. As they entered the clouds, they used the TF/TA radar and skimmed 100 feet above the terrain. Flying over the objective area, the crew realized that nobody with conventional helicopters could have gotten there. Checking in with their command headquarters, they were directed to proceed to David and help facilitate the surrender of a PDF force at a military facility in the city, commanded by Col Del Cid.

Approaching the city, Weikel could see a small baseball stadium near the facility. In the darkness, he landed the aircraft right on the pitcher’s mound. Some of the Army special forces troops then got off and went to talk to the Panamanian forces commander while Weikel and his crew stayed alert. They had a full complement of ammunition on board for their mini and machine guns, as well as their personal weapons.

After speaking with the local forces, the Army troops reported that the area was safe and decided to remain there. They asked that an additional security force be flown in the next day. Weikel had shut his engines down to save fuel. Suddenly, the stadium lights came on, shocking the crew. Local civilians began to swarm into the stadium, even climbing over the fences. The crew was alarmed as the mass approached the aircraft. Weikel ordered everybody to stand by his station and arm the guns. He had no idea of the intentions of the crowd and had to consider that it was possibly going to attack the aircraft and crew. He ordered his crew not to let anybody board the aircraft and began the start sequence for the number two engine. However, it rapidly became evident that the people were deliriously happy to have the Americans in their midst with their “Star Wars” machine. Some of the Army troops on board then disembarked and spoke with the people. Several reached up to Weikel, and he shook their hands. “Vayan ustedes con Dios,” they shouted, as they pushed their children forward to shake hands. It was a love-in, thought Weikel.

When his Army team commander told him that all was secure in David and that he and his team intended to stay, Weikel started the other engine. He had the people back away from the aircraft and turn off the stadium lights so that the crew could adjust their eyes for night vision, and then they lifted off into the now clear night sky for the flight back to Howard AFB. As they reached altitude, one of the flight engineers called on the intercom and wished the rest of the crew a Merry Christmas. Weikel recalled that “on that night, coming back on Christmas night, just leaving the town of David, we left some deliriously happy people who were delighted to have a chance to sort out their lives and families once again.” It was, he later remembered, a “sweet but intense feeling of accomplishment and personal satisfaction.”

While Weikel was in David, the other four Pave Lows joined several Army aircraft to airlift a company-plus-sized force into the David airfield just to make sure that the PDF actually did what they had agreed to do. Instead of opposition, though, they received the same type of friendly greeting.

On 27 December, two crews led by Lt Col Mike Russell flew a medevac mission to the San Blas Islands off the east coast of Panama to rescue an eclectic group of 19 sick international students at a resort. The crews had to work their way through heavy rain and thunderstorms for six hours before depositing the students at the Howard AFB hospital.

With the sequestering of Noriega in the Papal Nuncio, calm was rapidly restored to Panama. Pres. Guillermo Endara had been sworn into office as American forces began their attacks and subsequently ordered the Panamanian military to stand down. Except for a few die-hard elements, it did so. US Army civil affairs units then began to arrive, and Operation Promote Liberty was initiated to restore public safety, health, and population control measures. On 3 Jan 1990, Noriega surrendered to US forces and was extradited to the United States for trial. Operation Just Cause was winding down, and the airmen of the 1st SOW, along with their USSOCOM and conventional forces compatriots, were sent home.

During the operation, the crews of the 20th flew 193 sorties and logged 406.1 hours of flying time. But their accomplishments are told in more than statistics. As Captain Trask explained, since Honey Badger, the 20th had taken its new technology and trained earnestly to use it. Its focus had always been on leading the big mission, and it trained to do that for nine years. The Noriega seizure was just the latest iteration. But when that mission was cancelled, the squadron very quickly had to re-role to do whatever needed to be done. Then it was not so much the technology that the crews used; it was their basic skills as air commandos equipped with high-technology heavy-lift helicopters. “Humans are more important than hardware,” Congressman Earl Hutto from Pensacola, FL, had postulated back when he was an advocate for creating USSOCOM and supported the Pave Low. Operation Just Cause validated that point.

The variety of missions that the crews were called upon to fly demanded the larger set of skills that they had been mentored to maintain all those years by leaders such as Bill Takacs. In many cases, they were back to doing what their predecessors in the 20th and 21st SOS had done in Southeast Asia 20 years before—only now with the ability to do it day and night, good weather and bad, if the mission demanded it. They weren’t Pave Low; they were air commandos equipped with Pave Low, and the quickness with which they re-roled and carried on in Panama proved it, especially to themselves. They had been tested and had excelled. Two Green Hornets in particular were lauded for their efforts during the operation. Maj Jeff Walls received the Lance Sijan Award for 1990 in recognition of his overall performance and efforts to protect and recover a US Army Ranger team pinned down by enemy forces. Additionally, Capt Randy O’Boyle was selected as the air commando MAC pilot of the year for leading several direct-assault missions into downtown Panama City and other enemy positions.

On 16 Jan 1990, Just Cause officially ended. USSOCOM’s official history states that “JUST CAUSE clearly validated how SOF were trained, equipped, and organized: this operation showcased joint SOF capabilities, the high training standards for operators and staffs alike, and the value of interoperability procedures.” Bragged Colonel Weikel in the unit’s biennial history for the second half of 1989, “We’ve developed procedures to more effectively support elite classified units, who may operate as isolated elements after our long-range infiltrations… Another self-initiated development involves the innovative use of our airborne ground mapping radar to provide vectoring assistance to elite US Navy forces as well as other aerial platforms… We are the recognized experts in USAF SOF helicopter operations.” Perhaps SSgt Dave Duffy, the left gunner aboard Jack Hester’s aircraft the first night, said it best in a far simpler way. “Just Cause was the beginning of a new pace for the squadron. None of us were the same. It wasn’t just training anymore.”

About the Author: Darrel Whitcomb is the author of On a Steel Horse I Ride: A History of the MH-53 Pave Low Helicopters in War and Peace published in 2012 by the Air University Press. This excerpt and all others from: On a Steel Horse I ride: A History of the MH-53 Pave Low Helicopters in War and Peace by Darrel Whitcomb is used by the ACJ with permission.