I was blessed to have shows like this in my childhood. A-team, knight rider, all the great sitcoms that was on also. I am 48, glad I got to have a great childhood
I am a couple years behind you just but agree with your assessment. 80's shows like these bought me joy money could never do. Still best looking helicopter to ever fly also.
So many great shows back then! Greatest American Hero, Fall Guy, V, Battlestar Galactica, Mork and Mindy, SNL (when it was funny) and the best part was watching the American Flag come on at midnight so you knew it was bedtime.
That's what big business does to innovation...stifles it! A Spitfire is still a great looking machine but against what was available 30 years later...! Unfortunately, the next step is still be made so while there are nicer looking machines or better armed machines overall little has changed!
I remember pausing the betamax countlessly as a kid and copying the control panel configurations of the cockpit by drawing them onto paper, marking the colors, then reproducing it up to scale on poster sized cartolina with pen and crayon, to finally pasting them on my room's wall then grabbing a chair and using a badminton racket as a joystick, sit in front of the drawings pretending I'm in the cockpit flying the Airwolf.
He is listed on imdm as property master on most of his films. Did not c anything related to airwolf. But that's not 2 say that he did not work on it. Just reporting on what is on the site.
I still get goosebumps hearing the theme music and watching the opening! ❤️ I find watching ‘The Lady’ fly, her movement in the air reminds me of a dolphin in the water. She was a beautiful machine, thank you to all who brought the show to the screen. Thanks for the memories! 😊
Still remember this theme music. Cheesy and so Casio electronic keyboard and so 80's, yet still oddly thrilling and inspiring. And despite the absurd setting and premise and jumpsuits and motorcycle helmets in a helicopter, Jan-Michael Vincent still has moments where he is 100% believable as a hard-bitten, tired, yet deadly serious man.
In the Command-and-Conquer videogame, they had some attack choppers called Orcas, and they had the same shape as Airwolf. I always thought those units were inspired by the Airwolf TV show.
Even after all these years that startup sequence still gives me goosebumps... The music, the sound effects; it was all just perfect. The Bell 222 really was ahead of its time as it still looks modern even after all this time.
@@whitewolf3051 Yeah, this is truly what helicopters should look like. The Bell 222 in Airwolf really was ahead of its time and still looks leagues ahead of anything they have now. Although I also loved the RAH-66 Comanche and it's a real shame that they cancelled that one. It definitely showed promise but apparently they had concerns regarding its survivability in the face of current anti-aircraft threats; and as such were looking towards UAVs instead. I still think that the helicopter was truly a marvel of engineering and the Bell 222 was definitely at the forefront in terms of design.
@@DanakarEndeel I did say "more or less." I wouldn't mind the Bell 222 just being civilian support use. For combat or troop transport, that's what the Huey is for.
@@whitewolf3051 Well ofcourse I wouldn't use something like the Bell 222 for troop transport but it was still one of the most beautiful helicopters that was way ahead of its time imo. ;)
THIS show, Blue Thunder, Knight Rider, macgyver and a few other shows of the 1980s were the meld of technology and crime fighting with cool equipment most of us kids that grew up in that generation... it wasnt so far fetched as the stuff our parents watched in the 1960s... so much is becoming reality today
Good lord, what an impressive beast. I was mesmorized by it 30 years ago and I still am now, especially when that theme song started playing. Gave me goosebumps every time. It's like a flying K.I.T.T.
johnlang, you’re kidding, right? Why would the lady sound like either JEJ, or Iago the parrot? Personally, Majel Barrett, Marina Sirtis, or Gates McFadden would be better, though the first one is impossible since she’s no longer with us, so it’s either Counselor Troi or Dr. Crusher.
Looking at this today I’m kind of surprised how well some of the rear projection, matte work and miniature work still holds up. Remarkably well for an 80’s tv show.
Terrible what happend to Jan Michael Vincent all too common of an age to die from years of Alcohol addiction. My cousin followed the same path when he was younger everyone wanted to be like him popular had a life like every guy wanted. By his 50's sleeping in parks dead by 62.
@@Mike-01234 aye… alcohol is deadlier than we think. At least Hawke’s flying higher now! I think Jan had a crack problem too, though, seem to recall that from somewhere.
I saw this back in the Eighties, love the actors, love the helicopter -- but I also have to add some love for the man behind the music, Sylvester Levay. Born in what is now Serbia, Levay came to Hollywood in 1980 and was the uncredited orchestrator of Giorgio Moroder's music in the movie "Flashdance." I consider his Airwolf music to be his magnum opus and nothing short of inspired. Even when an episode was fairly weak, that music could still get your blood pumping.
A 222 had room for 8 to 9 seats in the back - plenty of room for Dom and all his instrumentation. The new version of the 222 (this one was actually a B model) is the 430. My flight instructor had a ride in a 222B, he said it was the only 2 blade helicopter that did not have a 'wobble' during translation from vertical to horizontal flight. Smooth.
Yeah, because you know the helicopter is in heaven too. It actually crashed into the side of a mountain, killing everyone on board after the show went off the air. Smh, Dom Santini aka Ernest Borgnine passed away I believe around 2011, but I don't remember Jan Michael Vincent passing away though.
The thing I remember most from this series is that despite the limitations of computer visual effects and special effects at the time, and the fact that basically all they did was speed up the tape to make that Bell-222 look like it was going 5 times faster than it could in real life, they always framed it in a way where is almost seemed believable. Especially with the masking effects of NTSC-resolution TV. They didn't make any glaring mistakes like having the pilots visible and moving like hummingbirds which completed the suspension of disbelief. Really brilliant stuff considering the TV budget and lack of modern CGI.
Dr Moffett, great character, evil, twisted, but a true genius. RIP David Hemmings. Great startup of Airwolf. Watched this series recently, Looks good on Blu Ray.
STILL A BADASS HELI! 👍😎 The Bell 222 was one of the sleekest exec choppers ever made. "It is so choice, If you have the means I highly recommend picking one up." Like if you know what 80s movie that's from!
Thanks so much for a great show and memories Jan, we'll miss you Forever, keep soaring away until I get there, now you and Ernest are finally together again.
Don't be silly its not gay for a man to say that another man is handsome. That's ridiculous. Grow up. That's like you saying that you're friend is beautiful.
There is something about this show that defile s logic as far as people loving it! I watched this show and all seasons and I still love it above all other shows! Even the theme song is so hauntingly beautiful!
All three are gone: Earnest Borgnine died in 2012, Jan-Michael Vincent in 2019, and even the Airwolf helicopter, which was destroyed in a crash in 1992.
Para quem tem mais de 40 anos de idade , com certeza esse é o helicóptero mais famoso do mundo ! O águia de fogo ! Se não me engano , passava 1 vez por semana a série , e eu ficava ancioso por aguardar o próximo episódio . ... Gostava tbm da super máquina e da moto laser .
Got all three series of Airwolf on DVD - NEVER tire of this show! Remember Granada Television (here in Manchester, UK) showing re-runs of this show around 1996-98!
@@grandwaha I've never seen a bell 222 up close so I don't have a concept of scale, such a nimble looking machine though, not surprised that they are deceptively roomy inside. Still my favorite helicopter design -so elegant.
@@sdmalpas They aren't that nimble at 50ft long with a top speed around 160mph. They did use a remote controlled helicopter for the TV show I seen ot at a casino in Atlantic City when I was a kid. Great scale model
Este siempre era mi momento favorito de la serie, cuando comenzaban a preparar todo para el despegue y luego salían del interior de la montaña con el icónico tema de fondo 😍
Such a simple idea too, this was just a bell helicopter with a few cosmetic additions on outside. It saved lives IRL too as it was used as an air ambulance before it crashed
I will confess: the engineer in me sighs when they talk about the helicopter going mach speeds without the top rotor and stabilizer blades *ripping* off ... but that doesn't detract from the beauty and excitement of the show. It was a gorgeous vehicle and a fun plot - things we don't get anymore.
I found that G4 TV is running episodes of Airwolf. I was thrilled to find this out. I love the lady and her incredibly sexy pilot Hawk!! I am on the east coast of the US and I get to watch Airwolf from 7pm to 9pm. Yey! Brings back memories of my childhood.
Every time I watch this clip. I tell my wife, Honey this bird is your only competition 🥰. This show started my Aviation career 😍🥰. 40+ thousand hours of rotary and fixing hours combined. Thank you 🙏🏼 Hawk and Dom
Obviously a show like this requires a little suspension of disbelief to truly enjoy it. Rather than trying to explain why Airwolf's rotor blades didn't snap off at Mach 1, might be best to simply ascribe this to Airwolf being a very special helicopter. With all the technology this helicopter was equipped with, it's not that big a stretch to assume that this helicopter also possessed some sort of special rotor mechanism to enabled faster than Mach 1 flight. For those who can't leave well enough alone, what's next? Are you going to explain why we don't have talking Pontiac Trans Ams that drive themselves?
We don't have Pontiac Trans Ams that drive themselves because Pontiac went Bye Bye, but I agree with your sentiment about the need to sometimes just suspend disbelief when it comes to entertainment.
That's the key to enjoying SF/ Fantasy... taking a step from reality for a little bit, and getting into the spirit of the show. Sure, it's cheesy and later on, a little corny. But, whether it's 1984 or 2014... when String's sitting in the Lady and he presses that START 1 button, you just know you're going to see some serious shit. LONG LIVE THE LADY.
The rotors to survive Mach 1 would have to be stronger than any metal known to modern science with a lubricant than can take super high rpms....(or even a mag lev rotor system to avoid friction altogether.) But if you really think of it...why not just have the blades retract at mach 1 and save all the trouble? But then that would mean more moving parts to depend on working.... maybe just leaving the rotors out was just avoid adding more systems...
First of all, how do you retract the blades in a super fast amount of time when the vehicle is traveling at subsonic speeds of as much as 350 mph? Despite Airwolf's considerably wind-friendly design, we're still talking about a 4,555 pound aircraft that's going to sink like a stone as soon as those main rotors stop spinning. Optimally, you'd like to engage the thrusters at a relatively high altitude (lower air pressure at higher altitudes makes achieving Mach 1 plus air speeds a lot easier, since the standard measurement for Mach 1 is 767 miles an hour at SEA LEVEL. Again, when those rotors stop spinning, a two-ton-plus aircraft is going to lose altitude very quickly. The opposite problem is how to reengage the rotors and get them spinning again when the plane could be traveling at speeds faster than 350 mph but lower than 767.
Yeah I know it was a TV show but the thing that always got me was how were they doing the heavy maintenance? Sure the CIA could be giving them the parts but still would be more than a one man job to keep a bird like that flying.
@@watcherzero5256 In one of the shows Dom fixed a part of the helicopter using a part from a coffee pot. In another show they smuggled Airwolf into the airport to do some maintenance. It was never really addressed, but Dom had been flying since WW1 and String since Vietnam and both had a large number of contacts of ex and not- ex military people. It would have made for some interesting shows if they had shown more of this, but the general feeling I got was that they were able to get it done.
I was a teen when this came out on TV. It never occurred to me to wonder how these two guys managed to get fuel, oil, and ammunition for this chopper. Not to mention, getting spare parts to maintain it.
@@clifftonadams9923 : That must be some arrangement they made to be able to keep it under the government's radar. Not to mention that the government can also employ spy satellites over the region.
