At the same time the Marines were landing on the eastern shore of Panama, an air force E-3 AWACS was vectoring four F-15s and four F-16s toward two separate flights of Soviet-made Sukhoi Su-27 fighter-interceptors. The encounters, twenty-two miles northeast and thirty-seven miles east of the former Howard Air Force Base, were short and devastating.
Three of the seven front-line Chinese fighters had been initially shot down and a fourth had been damaged. The other Sukhoi pilots had disengaged before the merge and raced southeast toward Colombia.
Hugging the deck in afterburner, one of the Su-27s had plunged into the trees when the quadruplex fly-by-wire flight-control system failed. Seconds later, an F-15 pilot picked off one of the other fighters.
The remaining Sukhoi pilot, flying at Mach 1.3, got away without a scratch — at least for the moment. The AWACS tracked the fighter to an airfield near Chiman, Panama. Shortly after the aircraft landed, two F-15s strafed the fighter before the pilot could get out. He managed to escape with minor injuries, but the aircraft caught fire and exploded.
Unfortunately, one of the air force F-16 Vipers was shot down by a surface-to-air missile. Incapacitated by the blast, the pilot was unable to eject. In retaliation an F-15E dropped an AGM-130 bomb on the SAM site near the canal and blew it off the map.
Minutes after the encounter with the Su-27s a flight of seven Chinese air force Shenyang J-6s (Chinese-made copies of the MiG-19) engaged four U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornets near the Atlantic entrance to the canal. Three of the outdated MiGs were shot down in a matter of seconds, while two other MiGs had a midair collision and crashed near the north side of the canal. The remaining MiGs separated and streaked toward the former Howard Air Force Base.
After the sky was clear over the Chinese air base southwest of Balboa, one of the two Spectre gunships, Terminator II, and two A-10 Warthogs thundered over the base near the western shore of Panama. Overhead, four F-16s were flying cover for the Hercules gunship and the pair of A-10 close-support aircraft.
With an emphasis not on speed but on survivability and lethality against surface targets, the twin-engine Warthog is fitted with one of the most powerful guns ever mounted on an airplane. The beefy 30mm seven-barrel weapon fires milk-bottle-size rounds at a blistering pace of up to 4,200 rounds per minute.
The two attack aircraft also carried almost sixteen thousand pounds of external ordnance, including missiles and bombs spread over eleven hard-points under the wings and the fuselage.
While the Spectre gunship circled the air base, four Chinese antiaircraft artillery sites opened up with a barrage of fire that only slightly damaged the tough Hercules.
Not intimidated by the firepower, Terminator II pulverized the gun emplacements with cannon fire while the A-1 0s strafed two of the four Sukhoi Su-27 fighter-interceptors scrambling toward the runway. The damaged jets slowed and stopped on the side of the taxiway while the other pair of Chinese fighter planes entered the runway and began accelerating down the airstrip.
The Spectre gunship commenced firing with everything it had, cutting a deep furrow across the runway in front of the speeding jets. The flight leader and his wingman never had a chance as the landing gear was ripped from beneath both fighters. One Sukhoi caught fire and exploded while the other fighter slid off the side of the runway and overturned.
Terminator II also hammered a flight of two Shenyang J-7s (MiG 21s) as they scrambled for takeoff. Both aircraft exploded and set fire to another MiG21 parked near the flight line.
While the Chinese MiGs burned, the air force A-10s moved in, strafing and bombing the rest of the newly delivered fighter planes. The Warthogs then headed east with the F-16s to rendezvous with an air force KG-10 tanker. After they topped their fuel tanks, the A-10 pilots would join their colleagues to fly cover for the Marines while the F-16s went after SAM sites and triple-A emplacements.
Separated at five-minute intervals, Thrminator II and Hell Raiser would patrol the length of the canal. Their mission was to eliminate any missile sites or antiaircraft artillery emplacements that opened fire on anyone. If the Marines got pinned down, the big gunships would be called on to demonstrate their cannons and howitzers to the Chinese forces.
Covered by Super Cobras and AV-8B Harriers, the Marines encountered stiff resistance when they stormed the Panamanian shore on both sides of the canal. The Harriers and Super Cobras poured a tremendous stream of fire into the ranks of the 6,40 °Chinese soldiers on the front line. Antiaircraft artillery fire soon downed two Super Cobras and a Harrier.
One helicopter crew was killed in the crash while the other Super Cobra crew survived the crash landing of their ship. The Harrier pilot ejected low to the ground and his parachute popped open just in time for him to make one swing before he hit the ground hard.
Despite a broken ankle, the aviator immediately came up on his radio and guided a Marine UH-1N Huey to his position. Covered by two Marine Hornets, the helicopter successfully retrieved the F/A-18 pilot, and then plucked the injured crew of the Super Cobra from the midst of the advancing Chinese soldiers. Low on fuel, one of the Hornets had to strafe within sixty feet of the Huey to keep the PLA troops from reaching the downed aviators.
When a third Super Cobra was blown out of the sky, the call went out to the menacing AC-130U Spectre gunships. Four minutes later Hell Raiser and two Marine F/A-18 Hornets jumped into the fray. The firepower erupting from the big gunship was a frightening sight, a show of force not for the faint of heart.
The PLA forces grudgingly held their ground until Terminator II and a flight of four navy F/A-18s joined in the fierce fighting. The no-holds-barred 105mm howitzers in the Spectre gunships overpowered the Chinese and forced their staggered lines of defense to break and begin falling back. The Marines were quickly enveloping the Chinese on the left flank and opened a huge hole in the PLA on the right side of the canal.
Moving very rapidly, the Marines broke through the decimated Chinese ranks at three critical points. The PLA troops were being decisively defeated by the fast-moving Marines and the devastating and unrelenting close air support.
At the same time air force and navy fighter planes were hunting, and then destroying antiaircraft artillery positions and surface-to-air missile sites. Many of the emplacements were quickly abandoned when the Spectre gunships and the Warthogs opened fire on nearby sites. Other Chinese soldiers continued a steady stream of triple-A fire and missile launches until their sites were turned into smoking holes the size of swimming pools.
Feeling anxious, Comdr. LeRoy Gartly and his crew watched with great apprehension as Chinese soldiers cautiously approached his 445-foot ship from both sides of the canal. Lightly armed with rifles and pistols, the U.S. sailors were preparing to repel boarders when four navy F-14 Tomcats and six navy F/A-18 Hornets rolled in on the encroaching PLA forces. The "Bombcats" and two of the Hornets worked over the Chinese foot soldiers while the other F/A-18s went after triple-A emplacements and SAM sites.
A shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile crippled one of the Hornets and forced the pilot to set a direct course for George Washington. Before the damaged F/A-18 was out of sight, an F-14 was downed by intense antiaircraft fire. The crew safely ejected and two orbiting Hornets were vectored to their position to provide air cover until a rescue helicopter could get to them.
An HH-60H Seahawk from George Washington arrived minutes later. The Tomcat pilot and his radar intercept officer raced to the helo and dived through the door a second before the Seahawk lifted off. The helicopter sustained engine damage from a hail of ground fire, but it managed to return safely to GW.