Retired military helicopter placed at Cannon

CANNON AIR FORCE BASE — A helicopter with three decades of combat experience has found a resting place.

About 400 people on Tuesday attended a ceremony at Cannon Air Force Base's airpark near the main gate to welcome and honor an MH-53 Pave Low with one of its pilots in the infancy of Operation Desert Storm.

On hand to honor the helicopter with retired Lt. Col. Corby Martin were Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command, Chief Master Sgt. Gregory Smith, AFSOC command chief, and retired Lt. Gen. Donny Wurster.

Event emcee Capt. Brian Schake said the military stated in 1970 a need for search and rescue vehicles that could penetrate hostile territory. The next step was to modify HH-53 Super Jolly Green giant helicopters with radar, infrared, navigation and defense systems, and the MH-53 rolled off the lots March 13, 1979.

"Once assigned to their first Special Operations wing, these helicopters conducted long-range, low-level missions to insert, extract and resupply Special Operations forces," Schaf said.

"Eventually employed by three squadrons within Air Force Special Operations Command, Pave Low helicopters and their crews have supported nearly every major U.S. combat operation from 1980 to 2008, including Operation Just Cause, Operation Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Northern and Southern Watch, Allied Force, Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom, as well as Joint Task Force Katrina. The MH-53 has faithfully served not only its country but also the crew members in attendance before you, returning them home to their loved ones."

One of them was Martin, who served as lead planner and flight lead for the MH-53s that went into Iraq to kick off Operation Desert Storm.

"The mission launched 26 years ago today," 27th Special Operations Wing Commander Col. Ben Maitre said, "resulted in the destruction of multiple Iraqi early warning radar systems and opened the door for U.S. and coalition fighters and bombers to begin pummeling Iraqi forces."

Martin told the story of the days leading up to the initial attack, as he and others had been in Saudi Arabia since the previous August.

"It never looked this good any of the times I flew it, that's for sure," Martin said with a laugh. "It's not leaking. If a Pave Low is not leaking, that usually means its reservoirs are empty and you don't want to take it off the ground."

He remembered in the hours leading up to the 3 a.m. Jan. 17 attack, everybody was calm because they'd prepared for the mission and knew they had to finish it if they wanted to go home. There were some snags in the plans, like heavier winds and people set up with shoulder-fired missiles on the ground. But the plan succeeded.

"When the clock hit," Martin said, "it looked like, I don't know what you'd call it, a Fourth of July celebration on steroids."

Both Martin and the Pave Low went on to several more missions. The aircraft served with the 20th Special Operations Squadron at Hurlburt Field (1989-1995), the 31st SOS in Korea (1995-2001) and as a training aircraft with the 551st SOS at Kirtland Air Force Base (2001-2007) before its 2008 retirement. The 551st relocated to Cannon in 2009, and many 551st members attended the ceremony that ended with a flyover by a pair of CV-22s.

"Today, this air(craft) is a symbol of all of the sacrifices that have been made by all of the Air Commandos who have come before you," Martin said.