it may also be that people leaving from Howard on Space-A or chartered flights to charleston didn't have to have anything but a birth certificate and dependent ID, i don't know.
I was thinking the same thing. But all that stopped at the end or 1999. When it was the Canal Zone, one would get official travel documents for leaving and entering Panama (Tocumen Airport), but I think, one still had to have a Passport anyway…I think…I have always had a passport so my mind is fuzzy on this one. If one left out of Howard, one didn’t need a passport, only, as you stated, a birth certificate and/or dependent ID. I never traveled on the “Freedom Bird” because of the uncertainty of leaving and returning on a particular date. Also, one had to go all the way to Charleston, NC.
As far as Albrook was concerned, yes, it was the only international airport for both the Canal Zone and the Republic of Panama. It ceased being a commercial airport, as you pointed out, many, many years ago when Panama built it’s own international airport which was jungle and wilderness at the time.
But definitely, today, one has to have a passport to leave Tocumen Airport. Embassy folks have their own official passports. I don’t know about the U.S. Embassy Marines and their needs.
" I don’t know about the U.S. Embassy Marines and their needs."
I think AD and personnel overseas all have to have passports.