Airwolf - Television Tropes & Idioms

A 1984-87 action-adventure program about Stringfellow Hawke, a helicopter pilot whose brother is missing in Vietnam. The concept of the show is that Stringfellow Hawke manages to blackmail the Firm (A thinly veiled branch of the CIA) by failing to return a prototype helicopter that he'd retrieved for them after the chopper's creator, the evil Dr. Moffet, flew it off to Libya.

Unusually cordial about this act, The Firm proceeds to hire Stringfellow Hawke as a mercenary to fight against various threats from communists or criminals. Several times, the Firm would attempt to recover Airwolf despite the fact that they routinely allowed Stringfellow Hawke into sensitive areas to discuss the helicopter's placement. The Soviets tried to do the same, although the discussions tended to be far more forceful.

After Season 3, the show was radically retooled with Stringfellow Hawke replaced by his brother Saint John Hawke. The sole season after this, which was made for USA Network at a time where cable series literally had No Budget, was mostly composed of (painfully obvious) Stock Footage and ceased to have much of the previous helicopter action that they had once had.

The show is well known for its theme music that combined techno with a humming meant to invoke helicopter blades. It also includes some very impressive low-level helicopter flying.

The show is number one on Cracked's list of 6 TV Shows That Completely Lost Their Shit

This show contains examples of:

Affirmative Action Girl: Caitlin joins the guys in the second season.
America Saves the Day
Ace Pilot: Stringfellow and almost certainly Dominic.
A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Though not played with much in the series, Airwolf does have a primitive AI system that monitors and constantly optimizes the copter's systems. It also learns from and can assist the pilot in combat situations. These abilities are utilized in "Moffett"'s Ghost, as Airwolf has to find its own way to Langley and to deal with the situations it's in. These precise situations are not likely to be things Moffett could have predicted or programmed the autoplilot to do without such AI, as he had no idea where Airwolf would be or what it would be doing if he were dead or in jail at that point in time.
- There are also times when Airwolf seems to respond to the crew, such as the hydraulics hissing right after Dom asked if she missed him, or one of the engines stalling directly after an insult directed at her.
- The insistance upon refering to Airwolf as female is even used by Moffett and seems to go beyond the typical reference to machines as female.
And Starring: "With" Alex Cord "And" Ernest Borgnine as Dominic Santini.
A-Team Firing: Spectacularly averted. When Stringfellow Hawke shoots, he shoots to kill. Also, as stated in Mind Of The Machine, it's nearly impossible to miss a ground target with Airwolf's targeting systems.
Black Helicopter: It's black for a start... Designed to be a "wolf in sheep's clothing" as the flight suit badge references.
- Airwolf was painted very dark brown with a white underside, referred to by its concept designer, Andy Probert, as the "Killer Whale" paint job. That's close enough.
  - It seems that the white underbelly is unnoticed by most people, as "The Lady" is defined by Caitlin as "The biggest, blackest helicopter I've ever seen" in Sweet Britches.
  - The fuel caps are also bright red. Not that the enemy ever seems to notice.
Blessed with Suck: Stringfellow Hawke. Almost everyone he's close to dies. There are 4 exceptions to this. 1: Dom. 2: Archangel. 3: Marella. 4: Caitlin.
- And even Dominic dies eventually, at the start of Season 4. Because Anyone Can Die.
Cloak and Dagger: The Firm is a fictional Spy agency)
Code Name: "Archangel", real name Michael Coldsmith-Briggs.
- Meaningful one at that- as in "Archangel Michael" and the former English name for the Russian city of Arkhangelsk.
  - And sadly, completely forgotten after season one. Seriously, it's like they wanted us to believe his name was Michael Archangel.
Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: All Firm agents wear white suits, though this may be more attributable to Archangel's preferences, since his own superiors wear perfectly ordinary business outfits.
Cool Plane: Airwolf.
- The actual chopper (a Bell 222 with bits stuck on) was destroyed in a fatal crash in 1992, being used as a air ambulance. A non-flying replica has been built and was recently on eBay.
- Several computer games have had people add the distinctive chopper in mod form.
- This is also one of the more popular model/RC copter models.
Dirty Communists: Although some episodes go out of their way to have sympathetic Russian characters, most notably in "Proof Through the Night" when a deep-cover American agent was forced to come home...and the very Russian family he now had thanks to the length of his cover was forced with him.
Disney Death: String is the master of this. Often when it appears he can't outrun a missile, he'll dodge behind a sand dune or blow it up at the last minute, appearing to have been taken out with it. Airwolf then proceeds to fly over a sand dune or around a hill, in front of the badguy, Jason Voorhees-style. In one episode he does this with a B-52 bombing run simulating a nuclear attack.
Stringfellow Hawke: I was born in that briar patch!
- Moffett also does this at the beginning of the pilot episode/movie.
Dodge By Braking
Elaborate Underground Base: Although there's not much in there, it's inside an extinct volcano and Airwolf takes off through the top.
- There's the ruins of a cliff dweller city in the Lair. Unfortunately, these ruins seem to be more of Easter Egg than anything else. Still, they could have been used as a base if needed.
Enemy Scan: Arguably one of the chopper's coolest features.
Ernest Borgnine: As Dominic "Dom" Santini.
Executive Meddling: CBS had the series made more domestic and lighter after the first one, insisting on a female character being added.
- Season 4 was made for the USA Network, which as a cable channel in 1987 and even after taking the series to Canada, could not afford to keep any of the original cast.
Evil Twin: Airwolf II (AKA: Redwolf) has a red nose and underside. And a laser.
- The digital Airwolf from Mind of the Machine.
- The Scorpion (AKA Airwolf III) in season 4. Recycled footage of Airwolf II
Eyepatch of Power: Dark Individual Lens Of Power, as worn by Archangel. He also has a medical eyepatch in parts 1 and 2 and the early parts of part 3.
Faked Rip Van Winkle: On Stringfellow, which involves a fake news story about Charles and Diana separating.
Fair Cop: Caitlin used to work for the Texas Highway Patrol.
Follow the Leader: Airwolf is one of several shows based around Cool Helicopters that were inspired by the 1983 film Blue Thunder.
- Viper can be seen as the car version of Airwolf.
- As can the Knight Industries Three Thousand from the recent version of Knight Rider.
Future Copter
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Archangel commenting on his aide's "above-average oral dexterity". The Blooper Reel from that episode must have been a hoot.
Good-Looking Privates: Stringfellow Hawke.
- He never seems to be wearing a shirt under his flight suit...
Guy In Back: Dom or Caitlin, but on one occasion Archangel.
- Incedentially, we never get to see Caitlin as the Girl In Front, except once to get The Lady out of the Lair.
Instrumental Theme Tune: The legendary techno track that opens the show is one of the best and most memorable parts.
It Is Pronounced Tro-PAY: "Saint John" is pronounced "Sinjin" by all characters (and the opening narrator from season 1) within all 4 seasons, but is always spelled out as "Saint John" in all the documents, and even in the English subtitles. That's because it's the actual pronunciation.
Just Plane Wrong: See that page for all the examples of "this would never work with a real aircraft", as well as "That's not an F-16! That's an F-4!" or "That's not a Mirage! That's a Hawker Hunter!".
- Most fans of the show Did Not Do the Research and are blissfully unaware of these factors.
  - See also Bellisario's Maxim. It is one of his works, after all.
Latin Land
Literary Allusion Title: "Proof Through The Night", a rather clever pun as it involves Airwolf having to carry proof about Soviet chemical weapon testing through the night out of the USSR.
Lzherusskie
Man in White: Michael "Archangel" Coldsmith-Briggs, Hawke's contact with the FIRM, who not only wears white suits, but is flown around in a white helicopter and driven in a white limo, and aided by a string of exotic looking female assistants dressed in (wait for it...) white. Lampshaded several times by String and Dom.
Mecha-Mooks: Airwolf destroys hordes of enemy helicopters in many episodes, frequently with individual components that are superior to Airwolf's. However, as the bumper sticker that clearly belongs on Airwolf's fuselage reads: "Outnumbered? Yes. Outgunned? Maybe. Outclassed? Never."
- This usually has more to do with String's flying abilities.
Archangel: They haven't invented a machine yet that can out-fly a good pilot.
Mnogo Nukes: Including "The Key" (season 4) and a "Delta III" SSBN in Season 3's "Crossover".
- "Condemned" includes nuclear-tipped cruise missiles fired from a Soviet submarine.
Post Mortem Comeback: The mad creator of Airwolf had a program hidden inside it that nearly caused it to trigger World War III. The creator's been dead for quite a while, yet his revenge wasn't complete.
Redemption Equals Death: In "Once A Hero", Wallace reveals that he was responsible for betraying his fellow [POWs=] by giving their escape plans to a prison-camp guard during the Vietnam War (albeit under extreme duress). When the team is ambushed by Laotian troops manning a hidden machinegun nest, he sacrifices himself by jumping into the machinegun nest with a live grenade while the enemy troops are reloading - and by taking out the enemy machinegunners, he's able to let the rest of the team escape with the prisoners they've rescued.
Red Scare: The main villains.
Reds With Rockets
- The MiG-23M "Flogger-B" (incorrectly designated as MiG-23S, the first production variant, which never entered operational service. That was Western Intelligence for you) features in a couple of episodes when Airwolf goes to the USSR, reflecting its role in the Voyska PVO.
Reporting Names
Retool: Season 4, which changed the entire cast and slashed the budget to sub-Blake's 7 levels. Few liked it.
- Season 4 was made for USA Network and all of the "flying" scenes consisted of either recycled footage from previous seasons, or use of an RC copter.
Rule Of Cool: It is not actually physically possible for a regular chopper to fly that fast. It gets a Hand Wave via dis-engaging blades and separate jet engines, and it even stays consistent; one episode has the system that handles this function damaged, and Dominic freaks out at the idea of going supersonic because the blades will rip off if they're still spinning. The aerial photography even changes to show which mode is in use, with camera trickery making the helicopter and the main rotor itself appear to be going appropriately slow or fast.
- It's also not possible for some of the missile types to fit inside the ADF pod.
Stock Footage Only became truly obnoxious in later episodes.
- All of the Mongoose Laser's test targets were recycled from the Airwolf II laser targets.
- When they set the ADF pod to "sequential fire mode" in the episode "Wildfire", it's really the missile test from Airwolf II. The Redwolf's red nose is noticeable.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Saint John.
Theme Music Power-Up: in some cases, quite literally, the tune being sometimes played as Airwolf's engines are started up.
Translation Convention: Largely averted.
Video Will: despite being killed very, very dead in the pilot, Dr. Moffet managed to return as a villain in one episode, using a twisted version of this trope.
Waistcoat of Style: Archangel.
Weapons Understudies: Use of a US chopper type- the MD Hughes Defender, to play Soviet choppers- none of which even look like that.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: The Airwolf v. Airwolf II battle is preceded by them hovering near each other like sumo wrestlers.
- Another episode features a bunch of Vietnamese people, whose village was destroyed via inaccurate intelligence in The Vietnam War, kidnap the families of the pilots involved (including Caitlin and Dom, by virtue of being Hawke's "family", although he was absent). They decide to kill them all in the camp they're in on the 14th anniversary of the attack at the time it took place (although they fail to factor in the time zone- along with a very poorly co-ordinated hostage video), by using Huey helicopters- the same type that did it.

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