1 - The Black Vault

OPERATION JUST CAUSE
on Paitilla Airfield. The objective of the operation
was to quietly slip on to the airfield and block the
runway with a disabled aircraft or vehicle. Noriega
kept a jet aircraft at Paitilla Airfield that
planners felt could be his primary means of escaping
the country. While the CRRCs were inbound
to their objective area, General Thurmond moved
up H hour to 0045. The SEAL team could not
reach Paitilla Airfield before its original time of
0100 due to the distance left to travel across the
water. When the SEALs reached the airfield, the
enemy force there was already alerted by Task
Force Bayonet’s assault on Fort Amador and on
La Comandancia 15 minutes earlier. The enemy
engaged the SEALs as they moved down the runway,
resulting in the loss of four team members.
Task Force White fought on across Paitilla Airfield
and was able to complete its mission when it
disabled Noriega’s jet aircraft and blocked the
runway. A second mission assigned to Task Force
White was the disabling of PDF patrol boats anchored
in Balboa Harbor. Two demolition teams of
two men each conducted an underwater scuba assault
on two patrol boats and placed limpet mines
on their drive shafts. At precisely 0100 the mines
detonated and rendered both boats inoperable. 44
As operations got under way on the Pacific side
of Panama, Task Force Atlantic swung into operation
in the northern Colon area. The task force
was charged with three missions: (1) securing the
vital Gatun Locks on the Atlantic end of the Panama
Canal, (2) isolating the Colon area and neutralizing
a 100-man naval infantry company at
Coco Solo, and (3) securing the Madden Dam. In
addition to its primary mission, Task Force Atlantic
was given the task of rescuing political prisoners
being held in Renacer Prison. Within hours of
beginning its operations, Task Force Atlantic had
accomplished its objectives, including liberating
64 persons from Renacer Prison. 45
At Rio Hato the attack began at H hour with
two F-117s from Nellis AFB, Nevada, each delivering
two 2,000-pound bombs near the PDF barracks
located southwest of the main airfield. Three minutes
later, Task Force Red Romeo, made up of
rangers and USAF CCT personnel, began exiting
their C-130 aircraft over Rio Hato. The defending
PDF soldiers had been alerted and were waiting
on the airfield for the airborne assault to begin.
The rangers began taking on small-arms fire
even before they exited the aircraft. At least one
ranger was severely injured while standing in
the door of one of the aircraft, and several C-130s
sustained battle damage when small-arms fire
ripped through their fuselages. The C-130 formation
held a steady course despite AAA tracers
coming up to meet them. Once on the ground, the
rangers attacked the PDF garrison area. Other
ranger elements established an airhead and
moved to the southeast to seize the beach house
often used by Noriega . There were two large
trucks disabled on the single runway, and it took
90 minutes to drive the PDF defenders off the
immediate area and remove the trucks so that
the follow-on Combat Talon SOLL II formation
could land. At approximately 0230 local time, the
special tactics units cleared the five-ship formation
to land at Rio Hato. Ground combat operations
continued as the MC-130Es and the SOLL
II aircraft landed and downloaded their assault
troops and motorized vehicles. Supporting the
ranger assault were OH-6 helicopter gunships,
which were refueled and rearmed by the lead
Combat Talon by way of a FARRP on the east
taxiway. Hostilities continued in and around Rio
Hato until well after daylight, at which time the
PDF defenders were finally routed from their positions.
46
Task Force Pacific, made up of the 82d Airborne
Division from Fort Bragg, North Carolina,
was scheduled to air-drop into Torrijos/Tocumen
at 0145 local after Task Force Red Tango had
prepared the airfield for its arrival. The cold
front that had swept through central Georgia
early on 19 December had created havoc when it
turned into a severe ice storm across North
Carolina. It was the most severe ice storm seen
in the area in years, and the deicing equipment
at Pope AFB was inadequate to service the C-
141 aircraft scheduled to conduct the airdrop.
CINCMAC mobilized his entire CONUS force to
move deicing equipment and trained technicians
to Pope AFB from as far away as McChord
AFB in Washington State. Reservists living in
the Pope AFB area reported for duty without
being officially activated. With a Herculean effort
by everyone involved, lead elements of Task
Force Pacific dropped on schedule in Panama.
By 0400 local Panama time, the entire force had
arrived. Once on the ground, the brigade prepared
to conduct air assault operations to neutralize
PDF forces at Fort Cimarron, Tinajitas,
and Panama Viejo. Throughout the morning
hours of 20 December, Task Force Pacific moved
to occupy key positions on the eastern side of
Panama City to restore order in the heavily
populated area. 47
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