Airwolf - just the facts

Airwolf - just the facts (A article written in 2007)

Airwolf is an American television series that ran from 1984 through 1986. The program concerned a supersonic military helicopter, codenamed Airwolf, & her crew as they undertook various missions, many involving espionage, with a Cold War theme.

The show was devised by Donald Bellisario, who had also created Magnum, P.I., & would go on to produce Quantum Leap, JAG, & NCIS. The first three seasons starred Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, Alex Cord, & Jean Bruce Scott. The final season, for the USA Network, was recast.

The show had a musical score (orchestral based in the first & early second season episodes; synthesizer-based thereafter) penned & performed by Sylvester Levay.

Synopsis
The series's protagonist is Stringfellow Hawke (played by Jan-Michael Vincent), a loner who lives in a cabin in the mountains, only accompanied by his dog Tet, & the surrounding wildlife. Hawke is a recluse, spending most of his time alone with his priceless collection of paintings, & serenading eagles with his equally priceless Stradivarius cello. His only real friend & mentor is the older, eternally cheerful Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine).

Earlier, Hawke was a testpilot for Airwolf, an advanced supersonic helicopter with stealth capabilities & a formidable arsenal. Hawke is called upon by a man codenamed Archangel–the leader of “the Firm” that built Airwolf–to steal Airwolf back from her twisted creator, Dr. Charles Henry Moffet, who had taken her to Libya.

Hawke, with Santini, finds the aircraft, but does not return it. Instead, they hide it in an extinct volcano (the Lair) in Monument Valley & occasionally fly it to carry out undercover missions for Uncle Sam, in exchange for assistance from the Firm in locating Hawk’s lost brother, St. John (pronounced "Sin-jin") Hawke, missing in action since the Vietnam War.

The series also stars Jean Bruce Scott as Caitlin O'Shannessy, who is introduced in the second season, a feisty Texas Highway Patrol helicopter pilot who joins Santini Air, & eventually comes to serve as a backup pilot for Airwolf.

The Firm
The mysterious organization known as “the Firm” (the “F.I.R.M.” in season three), is a covert branch of the Central Intelligence Agency, led by Michael Coldsmith Briggs III (Deputy Director of CIA; code-name: Archangel).

In the first two seasons, Archangel is often assisted by Marella (Deborah Pratt). She had doctorates in Aeronautical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Psychology, Microbiology, & French Literature. She was one year away from completing her Medical Doctorate as of the episode “Fallen Angel”.

The series was dark, arc-driven, & quite reflective of the contemporary Cold War, with the Firm personnel distinctly dressed in white & boasting that “wearing white hats” distinguished them as good instead of evil to the unconvinced Hawke & Santini. Early episodes detail the efforts of United States government to secure Airwolf from Hawke.

The Firm, during the first & second seasons, served as both ally & enemy for Hawke & Santini; when an opportunity to seize Airwolf presented itself, Firm operatives often took it.

Production History
The series ran for 55 episodes on CBS in the United States in 1984 through 1986, & an additional 24 episodes, with a new cast & production company, aired on the USA Network in 1987, for a total of 79 episodes. The first episode was a two-hour TV movie that was also released as a standalone direct-to-video film. The show was broadcast in several international markets.

Creator Donald P. Bellisario first toyed with the idea of the adventures of an ace combat pilot in a third season episode of Magnum P.I. entitled "Two Birds of a Feather" (1983), starring William Lucking, which itself was inspired by several episodes of Bellisario's Tales of the Gold Monkey - "Legends Are Forever" & "Honor Thy Brother" (1982), in which Lucking had played a similar character. The Magnum episode acted as the pilot for the would-be series, but the series wasn't commissioned. Bellisario heavily reworked the idea, & the final result was Airwolf.

Frustrated by studio preferences, producer Bellisario left the series after season two. The studio wanted to add a female character—which eventually happened, in the form of Jean Bruce Scott—and for the series to be more action-oriented & more "family friendly". Airwolf became more streamlined & self-contained. The moves by CBS proved unsuccessful however & series was cancelled after ratings dipped & production cost over-runs grew. But the USA cable network funded new Fourth Season episodes produced via Atlantis & The Arthur Company owned by Arthur L. Annecharico allowing the show to have enough episodes for syndication runs.

The original cast was completely written out of the fourth season (1987); only Jan-Michael Vincent appears, & even then only for a few minutes in the first episode. Dominic, only seen from the back, & in the form of a double, was killed off in an explosion; Archangel was said to have suddenly been assigned overseas; & no mention was made of Caitlin. Saint John Hawke, now played by Barry Van Dyke, was suddenly revealed to be alive & well (there were already contradicting facts about his fate in the original three seasons, & this new version confused things even more). St. John was rescued & subsequently replaced Stringfellow Hawke as the central character. Production moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with a smaller budget of $300,000 an episode, less than one-third of the original CBS budget. The crew no longer had access to the original Airwolf helicopter, & all in-flight shots were recycled from earlier seasons; the original full-size studio mockup was re-dressed & used for all interior shots. This new "Canadian" version of the series is held in very low opinion by many fans generally.

Airwolf is rarely shown on TV channels today, although a syndication package does exist & occasionally appears as re-runs. In 2007, the series aired sporadically on the Sci Fi Channel.

Airwolf ( helicopter )
The flying Airwolf helicopter was actually a Bell 222 (sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A, serial number 47085).

The concept behind Airwolf was a supersonic & armed helicopter that could blend in by appearing to be civilian & non-military in origin - a "wolf in sheep's clothing." Airwolf's insignia patch (also designed by Probert) as worn by the flight-crew was a snarling wolf's head with gossamer wings that appears to be wearing a sheepskin complete with the head of lamb over the wolf's forehead; a play off "a wolf in sheep's clothing".

Regular cast
Season 1 (CBS, Spring 1984) — two-hour pilot & ten additional episodes.

Jan-Michael Vincent — Stringfellow Hawke (Captain, U.S Army) (noted as 34 years of age in the 5th episode)
Ernest Borgnine — Dominic Santini (chief proprietor of Santini Air)
Alex Cord — Michael Coldsmith Briggs III (Deputy Director of CIA division nick-named "The Firm"; code-name: Archangel)
Seasons 2–3 (CBS, 1984–1986) — two seasons of 22 episodes each.

Vincent, Borgnine, Cord, &
Jean Bruce Scott — Caitlin O’Shannessy (former Deputy Sheriff & helicopter pilot of the Texas Highway Patrol)

Season 4 (USA Network, Spring–Summer 1987) — 24 episodes, bringing the total hours to 80.

Barry Van Dyke — Saint John Hawke (Captain, U.S Army)
Michele Scarabelli — Jo Santini (inherited Santini Air from her uncle Dominic Santini after his death)
Geraint Wyn Davies — Mike Rivers (reserve Major, U.S Air Force)
Anthony Sherwood — Jason Locke (a core agent in the government agency called "The Company")

Notes
The CD soundtrack for the show, Airwolf Themes: 2CD Special Limited Edition (GERCD3), is a collectors’ item selling for up to $981—a world record—on eBay, making it the “World's Most Expensive Television Soundtrack”. Only 1,000 copies were made. A sequel soundtrack will be released in late 2007.
Dale Wayne Eaton signed a short letter "Stringfellow Hawke" & left it on the grave of the young woman he had murdered in the notorious Lil Miss case.
In 1987, a Japanese CD was made, featuring both "Airwolf" & "Knight Rider" themes with full orchestration arranged by Kenji Kawai. This CD is also very rare & hard to find (K30X-7096).
During filming of the series, a helicopter crashed during a manoeuvre in Pico Canyon, in California. Reid Rondell, Jan Michael Vincent's stunt double, was killed, & a special credit appeared at the end of that episode (Natural Born), dedicating the installment to him.
In the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, an Airwolf comic strip appeared for several years as part of the children's television magazine & comic Look-In, to tie in with the British run of the series.
The sound effect of Airwolf's turbos igniting is made up of several sound elements, including a pane of glass shattering. This shattering effect is a stock sound effect, & can be heard in various Universal-produced series, including several episodes of Magnum P.I. & Airwolf itself.
The push-button turbos effect was Donald P. Bellisario's homage to the Colonial Vipers in Battlestar Galactica, on which he also worked.
In the first two seasons, The Firm was spelt as a regular word. In the third season, it was written in capitals, indicating that it stood for something. No clue as to what it actually stood for (if anything) was ever given, but many fans have come up with their own various suggestions. During the fourth season, the Firm was renamed altogether as "the Company" (a nickname that the CIA is known by). Also with the change of name to the Company, the famous all-white suits & equipment were gone.
Creator Donald P. Bellisario & Deborah Pratt (Archangel's assistant Marella) met & fell in love through working on the series, & eventually got married. When Bellisario left the series at the start of the third season, unhappy with (what he saw as) the unwanted direction he was being forced to take the series, he took Pratt with him. (To fill her place, in the third season Archangel had a number of "white lady" assistants.) As well as making a number of guest star appearances, Deborah Pratt went on to write episodes for some of Bellisario's other hits, including Magnum, p.i. & Quantum Leap. Many of her penned episodes are considered as fan favourites of the particular shows. Bellisario & Pratt divorced in the 1990s.

Merchandise
Airwolf Themes: 2CD Special Limited Edition (Official CD soundtrack)
Airwolf: The Wonderweapon (German CD soundtrack)
Airwolf Collector's Edition (VHS)
Airwolf Replica Helmet (fully-functioning) Video of Helmet working

Video games
Airwolf (Commodore 64), written & designed by Neil A. Bate & Chris Harvey, with graphics by Chris Harvey & Rory Green, & music by Mark Cooksey. There were unrealized plans to rename the European-produced Airwolf C64 game as Fort Apocalypse 2.
Airwolf (Amstrad CPC), popular in Europe.
Airwolf (ZX Spectrum), popular in Europe. Followed up with Airwolf II

Screen-shot of Elite's Airwolf game for the BBC BAirwolf (BBC Micro & Atari 8-bit family ) by Elite, adapted from an unreleased game called Blue Thunder! by Richard Wilcox Software. The helicopter is blue in the game. Seemingly, the only thing changed from the unreleased version was the title. (Note: another BBC game, Superior Software's 'Codename: Droid', used Airwolf's rotor-like base-line on its opening screen. Whether royalties were paid is unknown! This is the only Airwolf connection with the game.)
Airwolf (Arcade), by Kyugo Boueki.
Airwolf (Nintendo Famicom), by Kyugo Boueki, released in Japan only.
Airwolf (Nintendo Entertainment System), by Acclaim.
Super Airwolf (Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis), by Kyugo Boueki, released in the U.S. as CrossFire.
Although not related to the series, the video games Thunder Blade & Super Thunder Blade by SEGA are heavily influenced by Airwolf in concept.

Models
ERTL 5" (~1:100 scale) die-cast toy model (1984) — available carded (alone) & boxed (with a Santini Air helicopter & jeep)
ERTL 14" (~1:36 scale) die-cast toy model (1984) — available boxed
amt/ERTL 1:48 scale plastic model kit (1984) — many Asian knock-offs are also available
Airwolf 1:19 scale Fuselage kit (unknown) — designed to fit the T-Rex RC helicopter
Charawheels 1:120 scale die-cast toy model (2004) — Charawheels is “Hot Wheels” in Japan
Aoshima 1:48 scale die-cast collector’s model (2005, 2006) — available in cobalt blue, black (limited), & weathered ( 2006 )

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