Always new things to learn in Panama. One is the airstrip which the Panamerican highway tunnels under about 1-2 hours west of Panama City. I have been driven under the runway on six occasions and have never seen a plane nor really much in the way of any activity at all. Local Lions club members told me it was just an expensive affair on the government’s part to attract tourists to an underdeveloped area of the coast. This is true regarding the last decade or so of the airstrip’s life but does not explain the rest of the history of the site.
THE SHORT STORY REVEALS
It turns out the airfield – Rio Hato – dates to the 1930’s when added to the defense system for the Canal by the US Army. Outside of the former Canal Zone, the Army decided to lease land from the Panamanian government from which to give a larger scope to rising air defenses over the Canal. The first Army airfields in Panama lie inside the American-controlled Canal Zone. Rio Hato was selected to better dominate airspace approaches to the Canal from the west.
Following the American disaster in the Philippines and on Oahu, the Army decided to further disperse their aviation assets over several different bases spread around Panama. Attempts were made to try and keep the dispersal bases more secret than the bases in the Canal Zone and at Rio Hato.
While Rio Hato continued to serve as an important cog in the overall plan to defend possible attacks on the Canal, the base also served as a way station for planes and materiel moving south to help and further augment American allies during WWII in South America.
SHORT STORY POST WORLD CATACLYSM
With the conclusion of WWII, Rio Hato became one of the many military posts found to be superfluous. The airfield turned over to Panama in 1948, though American forces would consider it as an auxiliary base – especially in the war against drug smuggling – up through the 1990’s.
The Zone started turning over to Panamanian control in 1979. The former Rio Hato Airbase already one of the main bases for the Panamanian Defense Force by that time. The PDF which included army, air assets, navy and police forces within Panama – which, after the death of Omar Trujilos, became dominated by one General Manuel Noriega.
Operation Just Cause, launched in December 1989, featured one of the main battles here at Rio Hato. The first actions by Stealth fighters – F117A – occurred here with a couple 2,000-pound bombs aimed at not necessarily killing Panamanians but at causing confusion. Men from two Ranger battalions then parachuted in taking control of the base after five hours as well as Noriega’s fine nearby beach house.
RIO HATO TODAY
The former Panamanian airbase today sits dominated by two luxury condominium projects – Costa Blanca Villas by Royal Decameron (with golf course running throughout – warning signs regarding alligators in water holes) and Royal Decameron Beach Resort and Villas. Two of the local Lions had condos within the projects. But there are other high rise all-inclusive resorts to choose from along the beaches.
The airfield expanded in 2011 to further tourism in the Cocle Province region, renamed as the Scarlett Martinez International Airport. The Pan-American Highway used to cross the runway, but with the renovation of the airfield, a four-lane tunnel punched underneath. The whole project, including a new air traffic tower came to over $53 million dollars. Locals see it strictly as money going sideways.
Charter flights – maybe one or two every few weeks – are the only planes using the runway. There are a few high-rise hotels on the beach nearby. Isolated from the rest of Panama, they tend to be self-inclusive. There is not much going on around here besides golf and the beach. Mosquitos fly about prominently – one of the local Lions leaders suffered Dengue Fever from one bite – especially around sunrise and sunset. Being low in altitude, the temperatures are always hot.
DEFENDING THE NEW CANAL
From the time of the beginning of the building of the Canal in 1913, defensive works also went up to defend the two entrances – Caribbean and Pacific. With time, those defenses became more elaborate erected to stop and engage the largest naval ships of the time. World War I, however, showed a new force on the horizon, the airplane. Planes were not a major player in the defense plans of the Canal Zone until the early 1930’s, the few planes present flew out of an airfield at France Field on the Atlantic side and Albrook on the Pacific. Aviation was further restricted by weather to the short dry season. The aircraft carrier and development of long-range bombers throughout the 1930’s forced the Army to further develop and modify their defensive scheme for the Canal.
Defense of the Canal remained within the realm of the Coast Artillery. Men of this branch manned the big guns near the two geographically separated Canal entrances. The defenses gained supported by a regiment on each side along with a battalion of field artillery on the Pacific side to lend support to infantry or help the big guns. About 13,500 men made up the force stationed in the Canal Zone. Air units included some 28 medium bombers, 14 light bombers, 24 fighters and a few other utility and trainer aircraft.
AERIAL DIMENSIONS
Air assets were certainly not of the most modern variety, the fighter force consisted of mainly Boeing P-26 Peashooters as World War II approached. Bombers were old Martin B-10’s, the first American monoplane bomber introduced in 1934. Only in 1939 when the airfield at Albrook completed, did air cover exist over the Pacific entrance. The B-10’s also saw replacement by the newer Douglas Bolo B-18 bomber.
Cognizant of the need for longer reaching protection for the canal with the possibility of enemy naval carrier strike forces, Canal Zone commanders looked to establishing airfields on both the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador and on Cocos Island, a small island under Costa Rican sovereignty about 500 miles to the west in the Pacific from the Canal. These hopes faced disapproval by the War Department in Washington. Instead, Canal Zone command turned the possibility of an advanced airfield to the west of the Zone in Panama.
RUNWAY DEVELOPS
A local landowner, Peter Kierluff – a Danish citizen – recognized a need for a primitive airstrip on his land in 1923 to help transport produce from his land at Rio Hata to Panama City. The Pan-American Highway did not exist until 1941, so access to this area remained difficult. He opened his strip to pilots flying from France Field and the Coco Solo Naval Air Station both sited near Colon on the Caribbean side of the Canal. The route gave pilots a good excuse for training with cold liquid refreshments offered at Kierluff’s airstrip.
The arrangement furthered into a formal agreement between the Canal Zone aviators and Kierluff where the Zonian air services rented the airstrip for six months including the dry and beginning of the wet season. The initial lease became formalized by the US Army Air Corps at the beginning of 1935 at little cost to the aviators. Costs for Kierluff were more than made up with his son’s establishment of an inn known as La Venta, a popular spot providing food, accommodation, beach, and fishing facilities.
An array of various aircraft used the field in the years before the run-up to World War 2. A couple of Boeing P-12E fighters and several Thomas-Morse O-19C observation planes were involved in accidents at the air strip.
EXTENDING THE EYES OF THE ZONE
The auxiliary airfield became more important as war approached. Situated further west from the Canal, the field gave air units an advanced base from which to patrol the Pacific approaches from. The area leased increased to include 19,000 acres at the end of 1931 including some of the best beaches in Panama with grounds moving inland up to four miles. Airfield engineers realized they could build airstrips suitable for all aircraft types at Rio Hato. This was not possible for other Canal Zone airfields – before Howard Field in 1940 – because of geographical confines of the Canal Zone.
Three Keystone LB-7 bombers – 25th Bombing Squadron – flying over Fort Amador.
Picture is from around 1930.
Like conditions in the Philippines, service in the tropics could take its toll on service members. Another advantage to the location of Rio Hato as a training and advanced center for air operations, the relatively cool climate of El Valle de Anton offered a chance for soldiers and pilots to take a break from their duties.
By 1938, already several buildings existed at the airfield including a 100-man barracks, mess hall and visiting officers’ quarters. The base increased in size in 1939 with the assignation of the 11th Engineers (Aviation) which built more barracks, a recreation center, bachelor officer quarters and a theater. The first hangar outside of the Canal Zone was also built and the main runway improved and extended. When completed, the runway at Rio Hato was the longest in all of Latin America.
PREWORLD WAR 2 BUILD UP
Rio Hato also offered gunnery and bombing ranges. In April 1940, the expanding base became designated as the Department (Panama) Training Center. An aerial gunnery camp and an aviation technical school both developed here. Then, at the end of 1940, the entire 9th Bombardment Group – three squadrons strong – transferred from New York to Rio Hato. The 1,000-man group found while the airfield and hangar ready for use, barracks were not finished by the time of their arrival. Men of 9th BG ended up living first in tents while having to build their own barracks. All supplies – lumber, laundry, food, and equipment for the 9th BG Douglas B-18 Bolo bombers – needed transport over very primitive roads from the Canal Zone.
The build up of the base had hoped to stay secret, but the very size upset Panamanian leaders. They felt agreements for a base the size of Rio Hato should have come about at a government-to-government level instead of merely a private lease. The protest served to make the secret, not so secret.
groups in and out of the new airfield
During 1941 other air groups deployed to Rio Hata. The 32nd and 51st Pursuit Groups flew Boeing P-26s until Pearl Harbor whereafter they gained Curtiss P-36’s. While headquartered at Rio Hato, most of their planes remained flying out of Albrook Field back in Panama City.
Another group initially sharing the airfield was the 59th Bomb Squadron (Light) flying Northrop A-17 ground attack bombers and Douglas A-20A bombers. This squadron became attached to the 9th BG when they came onto the scene. The unit moved to Howard Field at the end of October when that field opened. They dispersed to Aguadulce Army Air Field following Pearl Harbor in a general move by the Panamanian air groups to not lie caught concentrated like what happened at Clark Field in the Philippines.
WAR COMES TO PANAMA
With Pearl Harbor, all arguments between Panama and the United States quickly came to an end. Panama declared war upon Japan ever before the US. The Canal was considered a reasonable next target for the Japanese and all American outposts in Panama went on immediate alert. Long range patrols were constantly in the air from Rio Hato and the other Panamanian bases.
During the war, squadrons and plane types rotated in and out of Rio Hata. In the first two years, initial fighter planes went from P-26A to Curtiss P-35A and then to variations of the Curtiss P-40 and the Bell P-39s. Bombers of the Douglas B-18 and A-20A slowly changed over to include Boeing B-17 variants and later, Consolidated B-24 variants. The main runway remained a sod-surface though parking aprons and taxi runways gained concrete or asphalt. The main runway gained asphalt where the newly-created National Highway – today’s Pan-American Highway – crossed over the strip. Gates for the highway became installed, manned by members of the local Guardia Nacional. They closed to traffic during take-off and landing procedures with control residing in the traffic control tower.
RIO HATO AIR BASE TAKES ON MORE RESPONSIBILITIES
The designation of Department Training Center became replaced by official designation as Rio Hato Air Base setting it on par with the other three stations in the Canal Zone. With the deployment of Consolidated B-24s to Rio Hato to run long patrols out the Galapagos and back a new longer, paved runway developed leading to more intensive use to the base.
Heavy use, especially by the heavier aircraft, led to a temporary shutdown of the runway in December 1944 to allow repairs to take place. In addition to traffic using the base for operations, many aircraft used the field en route to various Latin American countries under the Lend-Lease program. Late in the war, the idea of building a tunnel for the highway gained consideration due to the large amount of traffic running across the runway, but the cost of $290,000 put that idea off to another day.
By the end of the war, several bomb squadrons remained at the airbase flying mostly B-24Js eventually replaced by Boeing B-17G’s and a few Boeing B-29s. For a year after the war, Northrop P-61B Black Widows served here, first with the 414th Night Fighter Squadron and later with the 319th Fighter Squadron (All Weather).
RIO HATO GOES INTO A LONG SLEEP
The end of the war brought about a desire on the part of the Panamanian government for the return of all installations outside of the Canal Zone. An agreement to retain 13 bases was signed by the Panamanian president but vetoed by all 51 National Assembly deputies on 22 December 1947. Surprised by the rejection, the newly formed Caribbean Air Command ordered Rio Hato to be evacuated immediately. The base was turned over to Panama on 31 January 1948.
The base-runway went to sleep over the next several years until a new treaty, in 1955, gained signatures between the US and Panama including the stipulation allowing for the US to use the base for military purposes over the next fifteen years. US Southern Command kept the base busy until 1965, but the number of exercises dwindled to about only two between 1965 and 1970.
Operational control of the Canal finally ceded to Panama beginning in 1979 with full control of the Zone turning over to Panama at the end of 1999. Rio Hato, included in the turnover becoming a base for the Panama Defense Force – PDF – which stationed two of their premier elements, 6th and 7th Rifle Companies, here.
JUST CAUSE
National Guard Beginnings
Lieutenant Colonel Omar Torrijos participated with fellow officers of the Panamanian National Guard to overthrow the government of President Arnulfo Arias Madrid 11 October 1968 only eleven days into Arias’ term. Arias had launched a purge of the National Guard, retiring many of the Guard’s upper tier of officers. Torrijos went on to remain in charge of Panama – indirectly through appointed presidents – until dying in a plane crash – which originated from the airfield at Rio Hata – in 1981. A couple years of uncertainty followed before Major Manuel Noriega ousted fellow National Guard leader Colonel Ruben Dario Paredes to take power.
His career spent as one of Torrijos’ closest and most trusted officers. Noriega served as the chief of intelligence during Torrijos’ rule at the top after proving himself loyal during a coup attempt against Torrijos at the end of 1969. Torrijos remained popular in Panama due to his role in negotiating the 1977 Torrijos-Carter Treaties which ensured Panamanian control over the Canal by 1999. A new labor code giving workers more rights and redistribution of lands increased his popularity. If some of Torrijos’ decisions proved unpopular, he had Noriega – he referred to Noriega as his “gangster” – available to enforce the new laws of the land. Some 1.300 Panamanians were exiled during his tenure. Intimidation, harassment of opposition leaders and even murder were certainly part of Noriega’s roles.
TORRIJOS’ ENFORCER
As chief of intelligence, Noriega was able to keep files on many people within the government, military and judiciary in order to blackmail them when needed. Drug smuggling was becoming a big thing in Panama by the early 1970’s. Torrijos made promises to cooperate with the US in thwarting the smuggling, but any enforcement would have been headed by Noriega. By this time, American already viewed him as an obstacle to the war of drugs.
At the same time American law enforcement became disillusioned by Noriega, the Central Intelligence Agency put him on its payroll in 1971. He had received some payments previously, but they had been on a case-by-case basis. Regular payments were made to him while he served as chief of intelligence because of his knowledge of both Cuba and the Sandinista program in Nicaragua.
The CIA knew Noriega worked both sides of the street selling knowledge in turn to the Cubans. He was also linked to a series of bombings within the Canal Zone during the run up to the 1977 treaties. In a meeting with CIA director George H. W. Bush at the end of 1976, he denied all involvement, pushing blame to the CIA, itself.
CHANGE OF THE GUARD
After Torrijos died in 1981, Noriega worked with two other officers in the National Guard deftly outmaneuvering them in the following two years. Reforming the Guard into the Panama Defense Force – PDF – and giving a series of quick promotions ensured Noriega of a power basis among the army. Much like Torrijos before him, Noriega ruled from behind the scenes appointing candidates he could maintain control over. Money and weapons came into the PDF as the drug trade exploded. Some of the monies obtained enabled Noriega to buy out major newspapers. Those papers remaining independent suffered harassed and intimidation. His May 1984 candidate for president – the first presidential election in 16 years – Nicolas Ardito Barletta Vallarino was on his way to a landslide loss when Noriega halted the vote counting, announcing Barletta’s victory by a narrow victory. Somehow, over 60,000 votes go lost somewhere.
Noriega, while becoming more repressive, remained secure especially with the leftist revolutions ongoing in both Nicaragua and El Salvador. Despite earlier giving weapons to the leftists, he allowed American efforts to counter both movements from Panama. By giving the US what it wanted in supporting the Contras, the drug smuggling efforts through Panama into the US stayed in the background during the 1981-1987 era.
Money began to flow into Noriega’s bank accounts during the mid-1980’s as the Medellin Cartel reached out for help with trafficking and money-laundering operations. At the same time, Noriega maintained close relationships with US enemies including Nicaragua, Cuba and Libya.
Disillusionment
Noriega’s popularity both domestically and within the ranks of the US government took a drastic downturn in 1985. First, a prominent political foe Hugo Spadafora was murdered after becoming vocal about corruption within the government especially regarding Noriega’s direct ties to drug tracking. A monitored telephone conversation between Noriega and his commander in Chiriquí province later came to light. Spadafora was arrested taken off a bus coming from Costa Rica. The commander told Noriega, “We have the rabid dog.” Noriega replied, “And what does one do with a dog that has rabies?”
The murder created a crisis. Barletta announced his intention to allow an independent commission to investigate the murder. He never got to appoint the commission, however, forced to resign instead. Former National Guard ally and a co-conspirator in the original coup carried out by Torrijos, Roberto Diaz Herrera accused Noriega of rigging the 1984 elections, killing Spadafora, drug trafficking and putting a bomb on Torrijos’ plane with the help of the CIA. Huge protests came out afterwards with 100,000 people in the streets marching 26 June 1987. Noriega countered by cracking down hard on protestors and charging Diaz Herrera with treason.
DISSATIFISFACTION AND FRUSTRATION
The US Senate passed a resolution asking Noriega to step down until after Diaz Herrera was tried. Government workers were sent by Noriega to protest at the American embassy turning into a riot. American assistance, including Noriega’s CIA salary ceased in response. While Noriega used anti-American sentiment to further cement his domestic hold over Panama, the country defaulted – without American support – on international debt with the economy shrinking by 20% by the end of 1987.
US federal grand juries in Florida indicted Noriega on charges of drug trafficking. Soon after the indictments, a small coup launched from within the PDF but loyalists quickly quashed the attempt. In spite of all of Noriega’s efforts, the presidential election of May 1989 was the beginning of the end. His candidate, Carlos Duque, was on his way to losing 3-1 against opposition candidate Guillermo Endara. Noriega had ballot boxes seized by the PDF announcing Duque the winner by a 2-1 margin.
Instead of publishing the results, Noriega voided the election due to “foreign interference”. The US recognized Endara as president which led to another coup attempt in October. Like the previous attempt, this was crushed by Noriega loyalists within the PDF – here men from the 6th Rifle Company played a prominent role. The rebels captured, suffered torture and execution.
“A STATE OF WAR“
Then, 15 December 1989, the Panamanian National Assembly – dominated by men controlled by Noriega – announced “a state of war” with the US declaring Noriega “chief executive officer” for the government. A day later, four American personnel traveling unarmed in a private car were stopped at a PDF roadblock in El Chorillo – a poor neighborhood lying between Casco Viejo and Ancon Hill. This area formerly was a stronghold of feeling for Omar Torrijos and the same for Noriega. The men, surrounded by civilians and PDF members, attempted to flee in the car from the scene. First Lieutenant Robert Paz of the US Marine Corps died from shots fired during the incident with another officer wounded. This event directly triggered a US invasion of Panama 20 December. The action already lay on the planning board in the months before. It would involve over 27,000 troops and 300 aircraft.
JUST CAUSE COMES TO RIO HATO
Various attacks involved with Operation Just Cause – note the Rio Hata operation in the inset.
There were already 13,000 US troops in the Canal Zone augmented by another 12,000 from US bases.
The two rifle companies – about 400 men – stationed at Rio Hato figured importantly enough to play in American plans – which involved a simultaneous attack on 27 targets. Noriega also maintained a beach house here at Rio Hato – much like Torrijos before him. The companies thought loyal to Noriega having helped put down a previous coup attempt earlier in October. In neutralizing the PDF garrison, two Lockheed F-117A stealth bombers dropped two 2,000-pound bombs near the PDF barracks in an attempt to confuse the defenders.
A few minutes later, a large airdrop from the 2nd and 3rd battalions of the 75th Ranger Battalion – from heights of only 500 feet or less – began a firefight lasting five hours before 250 PDF soldiers surrendered with the rest melting into the countryside. Also circling above the scene was a Lockheed AC-130H Spectre gunship. The 105 mm gun played a significant role destroying at least one PDF vehicle. Other direct aerial support was provided by AH-1 and AH-64 helicopters.
AIRFIELD TRANSFORMED INTO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Pedestrian bridge across the Pan-American highway – air traffic control tower for Scarlett Martinex Airport is in the middle in the distance.
Built on the former military airfield, a new international airport developed in the late 2000’s in an attempt at developing the long beaches here in Coclé. Costs became trimmed down to only $53 million dollars. Included for the money, a runway, a new terminal, a new control tower and a tunnel for the Pan-American Highway under the runway all included in the bill.
The highway previous to the new 2011-13 airport ran across the runway. The 560-foot tunnel was built from predesigned concrete forms placed next to each to form the tunnel. Built as a transit center to a new developing beach center for tourism, helping in turn at taking some of the traffic away from an overburdened Tocumen – the international airport located just east of Panama City – but that has not really materialized.
The airport is very small with a waiting area where passengers can go through customs and immigration. Though small, the airfield still rates simulations for Microsoft Flight Simulators.
Charter flights are the only mainstay here at Scarlet Martinez and they mainly originate from Canada – Sunwings – and only then from Toronto. The beaches are nice, though certainly not on the scale of those further west near Pedasí on the Azuero Peninsula. A Hard Rock hotel originally planned exists today in the form of one of the other high rise all-inclusive resorts along the coast today.
memory of a young panamanian pilot
The airport takes its name from the memory of Scarlett Martinez. She was the co-pilot of Aeroperlas HP-1247 which crashed 17 March 2000. She was only 20 years old but already had over 800 hours of experience. The captain, Claudio Fernandez, had 20 years and over 17,000 hours of experience. He chose a short cut on the approach to Puerto Olbadia in the northeastern Caribbean coastline near Columbia. The plane crashed at the 2,500-foot level of a 2,790-foot mountain. No one survived.