The 1980s were a golden age for television action heroes and their ridiculously cool rides. Michael Knight had a talking Pontiac Trans Am. The A-Team had its customized van.
He had a supersonic helicopter armed to the teeth, capable of outrunning fighter jets and turning virtually any type of enemy aircraft into scrap metal. Throw in a secret hideaway inside a mountain and one of television's catchiest theme songs, and Airwolf was practically irresistible to anyone who grew up watching '80s television. Premiering on CBS in 1984, Airwolf starred Jan-Michael Vincent as Hawke, a brooding Vietnam veteran and test pilot who takes possession of a top-secret military helicopter.
Alongside his friend and mentor Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine), Hawke flies dangerous missions for a shadowy intelligence organization while they search for his brother, who disappeared during the Vietnam War. It was part Cold War espionage thriller, part high-tech fantasy, and an awful lot of things exploding in the sky. Now streaming for free on The Roku Channel, Airwolf is a reminder of just how much fun '80s action television could be.
Unlike Magnum, P.I. or The A-Team, however, its biggest star wasn't one of the actors. It was the helicopter, and nearly four decades after the series ended, it's still one of television's most memorable machines. The '80s were a great time to be a kid who dreamed of owning something cooler than the family station wagon.
Doc Brown transformed a DeLorean into a time machine in Back to the Future. The Ghostbusters have Ecto-1, a converted Cadillac ambulance. And the Duke boys have the General Lee, an orange Dodge Charger that spends almost as much time in the air as it does on the road.
Airwolf belonged in that company, but it took the fantasy to another level. Based on a Bell 222 helicopter, the aircraft became a sleek, black-and-white flying weapons platform with retractable machine guns, missiles, and fictional supersonic capabilities. A helicopter breaking the sound barrier?
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