Airwolf, an action-espionage television series created by Donald P. Bellisario, premiered on January 22, 1984 on CBS in the United States and ended on August 8, 1987. The show spans four seasons and 80 episodes in total. The original pilot is two hours long (split into two episodes for syndication), while the episodes that followed are approximately 45 minutes long. An enhanced version of the first episode was released as a motion picture in several countries as well as on home video. The show aired for three seasons on CBS; it was later picked up by USA Network for a final season, made on a much smaller budget.
Three seasons of Airwolf were released on DVD in United States between 2005 and 2007, respectively. The fourth season was released in 2011. The original series was canceled due to declining ratings; the resurrected fourth season was not renewed due to poor viewing figures as well as being generally poorly received.
Airwolf follows Stringfellow Hawke, a pilot who has to retrieve the helicopter named Airwolf from the hands of its creator Dr. Moffet with the help from his friends, while going through a series of adventures. The original series starred Jan-Michael Vincent as Hawke, Ernest Borgnine as Dominic Santini, Alex Cord as Archangel and Jean Bruce Scott as Caitlin O’Shannessy. The cast of season four consisted of Barry Van Dyke as St. John Hawke, Michele Scarabelli as Jo Santini, Geraint Wyn Davies as Mike Rivers, and Anthony Sherwood as Jason Locke.
Series overview
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | Network | |||
| 1 | 12 | January 22, 1984 | April 14, 1984 | CBS | |
| 2 | 22 | September 22, 1984 | April 13, 1985 | ||
| 3 | 22 | September 28, 1985 | March 29, 1986 | ||
| 4 | 24 | January 23, 1987 | August 7, 1987 | USA | |
Episodes
Season 1 (1984)
The series premiered after Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984 with a two-hour pilot episode, and concluded on April 14, 1984, with 11 episodes aired. It began with Stringfellow Hawke hunting down Dr. Moffet and bringing Airwolf back into his protection, which Hawke would then use to go on flying missions of national importance for the F.I.R.M., the company that has the task of recovering Hawke's brother St. John Hawke.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Shadow of the Hawke" | Donald P. Bellisario | Donald P. Bellisario | January 22, 1984 (1984-01-22) | 58275 | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | 58276 | ||||||||||
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The brilliant, yet sociopathic engineer Dr. Moffet (David Hemmings), builds the advanced attack helicopter Airwolf for the F.I.R.M., a covert agency of American intelligence, pronounced in informal conversation as The Firm. During the initial test flight, Moffet attacks the testing facility, Red Star Control, steals his creation and takes it to Libya having deleted the blueprints from the F.I.R.M. computers. To get it back, F.I.R.M. operative Archangel, who was injured during the attack, tries to recruit ace helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke, who now lives as a recluse in a log cabin after the disappearance of his brother St. John in Vietnam. Hawke falls for Gabrielle Ademaur (Belinda Bauer), one of Archangel's associates, who encourages him to take the mission. Hawke accepts, but only if The F.I.R.M. hands over their classified information on the whereabouts of his missing brother. Hawke and his close friend and mentor, Dominic Santini, run the mission to take back Airwolf, discovering Moffet has used it to destroy American targets for the Libyans, and they will not give up their new toy so easily. Eventually they secure the helicopter and Hawke fulfills his part of the deal, but The F.I.R.M. is not forthcoming with his brother's information. Unsatisfied, Hawke hides Airwolf in an extinct desert volcano and becomes custodian of the aircraft, vowing not to hand it over until The F.I.R.M. finds his brother.
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| 3 | 3 | "Daddy's Gone a Hunt'n" | Virgil Vogel | Burton Armus | January 28, 1984 (1984-01-28) | 58208 | ||||||
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Hawke is given the assignment of finding a test pilot who is about to steal a fighter aircraft to fly it to Russia. Hawke discovers the pilot is an old Vietnam War buddy who would steal the plane as exchange for the return of his half-Vietnamese son (Chad Allen). After the war the boy grew up on the streets of Saigon. He was captured and was being held as a bargaining chip for the plane. James Whitmore, Jr. guest stars as Major Sam Roper.
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| 4 | 4 | "Bite of the Jackal" | Alan J. Levi | Nicholas Corea | February 4, 1984 (1984-02-04) | 58205 | ||||||
| While on a job assignment to Acapulco, Mexico (and unknowingly carrying a young stowaway portrayed by a young Shannen Doherty), Santini's helicopter is sabotaged and crashes in a desolate mountain area. Archangel discovers the man behind the bombing is a rival agent who wants to topple Archangel's position at The F.I.R.M. and is using Santini as bait to capture Airwolf. | ||||||||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Proof Through the Night" | Harvey Laidman | Clyde Ware | February 11, 1984 (1984-02-11) | 58207 | ||||||
| Archangel sends Hawke and Santini to help a F.I.R.M. double-agent escape the Soviet Union. The agent is in possession of a neurotoxin developed by Russian scientists that is valuable to the F.I.R.M. The mission is complicated by the fact that the agent has refused to leave without his wife and daughter. Airwolf 's fuel consumption rates mean that she cannot cover the requisite distance with the "extra weight" of three passengers, so Hawke and Santini must make up the difference by removing the weapons systems, leaving the helicopter unarmed as it flies through hostile territory. | ||||||||||||
| 6 | 6 | "One Way Express" | Alan J. Levi | Burton Armus | February 18, 1984 (1984-02-18) | 58209 | ||||||
| Santini is hired by a movie producer to fly as a helicopter stunt pilot for a gold heist scene. Concerned for his friend's safety, Hawke tries to stop him from performing the dangerous stunt. Archangel looks behind the scenes of the movie producer discovering the stunt is actually a cover-up for a real gold robbery arranged by a criminal mastermind. | ||||||||||||
| 7 | 7 | "Echos From the Past" | Harvey Laidman | C.R. O'Christopher | March 3, 1984 (1984-03-03) | 58211 | ||||||
| Hawke receives a photo showing the location of his missing brother. While flying back home, he suddenly falls unconscious and crashes his helicopter. He wakes up in a hospital from a coma and is told he's been out for one year. He is also told Archangel and Santini were killed after their own attempt to get St. John had failed. Hawke soon realizes nothing is as it seems and discovers that everything is an elaborate ruse by foreign spies to get their hands on Airwolf, when an innocent nurse incidentally stumbles in the room Hawke is being held. | ||||||||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Fight Like a Dove" | Stephen Dollinger | Burton Armus | March 10, 1984 (1984-03-10) | 58218 | ||||||
| A woman named Sarah LeBow seeks out Hawke and Santini to help avenge the murder of her father, by a former Nazi named Kruger. Sarah wants to use Airwolf to penetrate Kruger's fortress in Paraguay. Archangel informs Hawke that The F.I.R.M. has their own interests in Kruger and he must not be interfered with. Hawke discovers that their interest lies in the fact that Kruger is also a weapons dealer in possession of an advanced artillery system known as "Thor". In this episode, Airwolf reaches an altitude of 86,500 feet during a test flight by Hawke and Santini. | ||||||||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Mad Over Miami" | David Hemmings | Joseph Gunn | March 24, 1984 (1984-03-24) | 58216 | ||||||
| Santini goes on a mission to deliver $2 million raised by Cuban exiles as payment to free comrades who are being held by a Cuban colonel. He is later forced down and kidnapped by a group of mercenaries who also nab the money. A F.I.R.M. listening post confirms Santini's disappearance and Archangel secretly informs Hawke about the incident. Hawke quickly sets out to find his friend while the exiles accuse Santini of stealing the money for himself. Hawke later uncovers The F.I.R.M.'s involvement in hiring the mercenaries for the benefit of the colonel who they are actually in league with. | ||||||||||||
| 10 | 10 | "And They Are Us" | Nicholas Corea | Nicholas Corea | March 31, 1984 (1984-03-31) | 58217 | ||||||
| Archangel sends Hawke and Santini to a small African nation to protect their president during a military coup. Hawke discovers the leader behind the coup is a rogue colonel his brother St. John served with in Vietnam. Hawke goes against Archangel's orders to stay with the president and plans to capture and extract information from the colonel but first he must get past a fleet of helicopter gunships. | ||||||||||||
| 11 | 11 | "Mind of the Machine" | Ivan Dixon | T.S. Cook | April 7, 1984 (1984-04-07) | 58221 | ||||||
| Archangel asks Hawke and Santini to test fly an Airwolf simulator designed by Dr. Robert Winchester (David Carradine) who worked with Dr. Moffet on the design of the real Airwolf. Involved in the test is an attractive assistant who unbeknown to all is really an undercover KGB agent with orders to steal the schematics for Airwolf so the Russians can build their own. | ||||||||||||
| 12 | 12 | "To Snare a Wolf" | Alan J. Levi | Louis F. Vipperman | April 14, 1984 (1984-04-14) | 58210 | ||||||
| Archangel informs Hawke and Santini that a high-ranking government official (Lance LeGault) will be using a newly launched satellite to find the hiding spot for Airwolf. Hawke and Santini plan to hide Airwolf somewhere else until the satellite flies over. On the way to the hiding spot, they discover a female pilot who is stranded in the desert, but suspicions arise that she may be a spy working for the government official who wants Airwolf found. Other notable guest stars include Kathleen Lloyd as Antonia "Toni" Donatelli and Jeff MacKay as Sergeant Willie Nash. | ||||||||||||
Season 2 (1984–85)
The second season premiered on September 22, 1984, and ran for 22 episodes until April 13, 1985. In order to have the series move away from its quite dark and moody tales of international espionage into a more domestic and straight action-oriented affair, the show hired Jean Bruce Scott to play the role of a feisty Caitlin O'Shannessy. The moves by CBS ultimately proved unsuccessful, however, and while production cost over-runs remained high, creator Donald P. Bellisario left both the studio and the series after Season 2.
Sylvester Levay who composed and performed the music for season 1, composed 14 episodes of season 2. The remaining episodes were composed by Udi Harpaz (credited as UDI) (6), and Ian Freebairn-Smith (2).
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | "Sweet Britches" | Alan J. Levi | Donald P. Bellisario | September 22, 1984 (1984-09-22) | 58801 |
| Hawke learns a Vietnam war buddy of his has been gunned down in the Texas desert by a corrupt and sociopathic Sheriff (Lance LeGault) after the man supposedly escaped from jail. Hawke and Santini fly Airwolf there to investigate the incident and find the conditions of the killing are suspicious. There, Hawke meets and takes interest in a female highway patrol deputy named Caitlin O'Shannessy, who is quite aware of the Sheriff's strange dealings and corruption. After catching Hawke snooping around, the Sheriff has him arrested and taken to a game reserve where ruthless sportsmen pay big money to hunt down people and Hawke is used as prey. Other notable guest stars include Jeff MacKay as Buddy, David Graf as Billie, and James Whitmore, Jr. as Sam Houston. | ||||||
| 14 | 2 | "Firestorm" | Ray Austin | Calvin Clements, Jr. | September 29, 1984 (1984-09-29) | 58803 |
| An old pilot friend of Santini (Eugene Roche), who lost his nerve to fly after a crash had killed his passengers, has become a drunken recluse living in a trailer in the middle of the desert. The man suddenly comes to Santini with a wild story of seeing strange lights in the sky at night. Everyone dismisses the drunken rant until Santini witnesses the lights himself. He and his friend investigate but disappear. Hawke arrives in Airwolf to search for them and uncovers a secret missile base run by fanatical militants who plan to launch their own nuclear missile against Russia. | ||||||
| 15 | 3 | "Moffett's Ghost" | Donald A. Baer | T.S. Cook | October 6, 1984 (1984-10-06) | 58805 |
| Airwolf's systems begin to act erratically when a strange virus infects the on-board computer which periodically seizes auto pilot control and turns the helicopter into a flying terror. Hawke and Santini discover the virus is a trap, a logic bomb, originally planted by Airwolf's designer, Dr. Moffet, and programmed to unleash itself at a specific time unless the proper override code is entered. Hawke and Santini must make the decision to allow the F.I.R.M.'s engineers access to fix the helicopter and risk them trying to seize the aircraft, or deal with the virus themselves. This is the second episode wherein Airwolf, with Moffet jamming its controls, climbs to an altitude of at least 85,000 feet (the first time this was accomplished was in the season one episode "Fight Like a Dove" during a test flight by Hawke and Santini). | ||||||
| 16 | 4 | "The Truth About Holly" | Alan J. Levi | Phil Combest | October 13, 1984 (1984-10-13) | 58802 |
| Hawke and Santini rescue Santini's niece Holly from a compound ran by a Mexican crimelord. Once she is safe, Santini keeps an eye on her at his airport, but strange things begin to occur around Santini Air. Hawke and Santini believe the gangsters may be trying to scare Holly, but the sabotage incidents become worse after Hawke turns down Holly's passionate advances and when former Texas Highway Patrol Deputy, Caitlin O'Shannessy, arrives to work for Santini. Caitlin's relationship with Hawke sparks a jealous rage in the troubled Holly leading to suspicions she is behind the sabotage. | ||||||
| 17 | 5 | "The Hunted" | Sutton Roley | Chester Krumholz | October 20, 1984 (1984-10-20) | 58810 |
| An industrial millionaire, Carter Anderson III (Joseph Chapman) offers a big paying contract to Hawke and Santini, requesting they use Airwolf to protect and transport him around whenever the need arises. Santini is excited by the offer, but Hawke is skeptical, wondering why the man requires such protection. Unbeknown to them is the fact that Caitlin's new boyfriend is really an assassin who has been hired to kill the millionaire. Matters become worse when Airwolf experiences sudden erratic engine malfunctions. | ||||||
| 18 | 6 | "Sins of the Past" | Donald A. Baer | Westbrook Claridge | October 27, 1984 (1984-10-27) | 58811 |
| Santini is stunned at the news that his daughter Sally Ann has been found dead on a beach on the Caribbean Island of San Remo, apparently from a drug overdose. Hawke is stunned as well because Santini never told him he had a daughter. Both men divert from a F.I.R.M. mission and fly to San Remo to attend the funeral which ends in a bitter argument between Santini and his ex-wife Lila. Upon returning, Santini learns that Lila has been murdered, and he is promptly arrested by police as the prime suspect. Santini is taken back to San Remo and Hawke follows to conduct his own investigation despite objections from Archangel to finish the F.I.R.M. mission. Hawke discovers that Lila and Sally have a connection to a ruthless casino owner who has been trying to take over the island and he is determined to expose the man as the real killer. | ||||||
| 19 | 7 | "Fallen Angel" | Sutton Roley | Deborah Pratt | November 3, 1984 (1984-11-03) | 58804 |
| Both Hawke and Santini are injured after a botched stunt in a biplane. Hawke injures his arm but Santini fares worse, injuring his back and is bed-ridden. At the hospital, Hawke is informed that Archangel has been taken prisoner by the criminal ex-Nazi Karl Kruger and is being held in an East-German compound. Mounting a rescue operation, Hawke must add Caitlin to the Airwolf crew to temporarily replace Santini. In a rush to train her, Caitlin does not perform well and nearly blows up Airwolf. Hawke realizes he cannot perform the rescue without Santini's experience, so he and Caitlin spring him against authority, from the hospital, and head to East Germany to save Archangel. Aiding them in the rescue is a female foreign spy also a former love interest of Archangel, but can she be trusted? (Note: Jan-Michael Vincent's arm was really broken in this episode due to a drunken argument with his then-wife, Joanne. In the previous episode, some shots show Jan's arm is severely swollen) | ||||||
| 20 | 8 | "HX 1" | Gerald Mayer | Steve Hayes | November 10, 1984 (1984-11-10) | 58807 |
| The advanced helicopter, "HX1", is stolen by a group of mercenaries and Hawke learns that the tactics used in the theft are similar to those used by the special forces unit his brother St. John worked with. Believing the mercenaries may have connections with his missing brother, Hawke takes Airwolf out to track down the stolen helicopter. Hawke's suspicions are confirmed when one of the men turns out to be a war buddy of St. John's who Hawke thought was dead. The incident causes him to have flashbacks and he thinks he sees his brother momentarily. The rogue mercenaries have no intention of returning the HX1 and decide to try out their new toy against Airwolf. During the combat, Hawke's feelings get in his way, and he must fight his emotions if he wants to survive. PJ Soles guest stars as Ellie. | ||||||
| 21 | 9 | "Flight #093 is Missing" | Bernard L. Kowalski | Chester Krumholz & Calvin Clements, Jr. | November 17, 1984 (1984-11-17) | 58816 |
| Flight #093 has been hijacked and crash landed into the ocean. The terrorists claim the hostages are still alive and threaten to finish them off unless paid $50 million. The incident becomes personal once Hawke and Santini learn that Caitlin was on the flight and mount a search and rescue operation to find the downed plane. Upon finding it, they discover the terrorists are using a fishing ship armed with rockets to thwart any rescue attempt and depth charges to destroy the plane. Time is running out for the passengers as the plane is filling with water and running out of air. Footage from the movie Airport '77 was used to portray the sunken Boeing 747.. Seemingly a response to the September 11, 2001 terrorists attacks, during which United flight 93 was hijacked and crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, the episode title was changed to 'Undertow' and appears with the updated title on streaming outlets that air the series. | ||||||
| 22 | 10 | "Once a Hero" | Leslie H. Martinson | Alfonse M. Ruggiero, Jr. | November 24, 1984 (1984-11-24) | 58819 |
| Hawke is presented with an outdated surveillance photo of a POW camp located deep inside the jungles of Laos where the F.I.R.M. believe his brother St. John is being held prisoner. Hawke mounts a rescue attempt, rounding up members of his old Vietnam War strike team to go in and find him. His strike team is wary of the mission but reconsider once they learn Airwolf will be supplying air support. The team meets up in Bangkok and begins their trek behind enemy lines to locate the camp. Upon arrival, Hawke and his team find the camp abandoned and his brother has been moved elsewhere. | ||||||
| 23 | 11 | "Random Target" | Virgil W. Vogel | Story by : Herman Groves Teleplay by : Paul Savage and Chester Krumholz & Westbrook Claridge | December 8, 1984 (1984-12-08) | 58813 |
| Hawke and Santini go on a job to film some desert terrain footage for Santini's fellow airport business partner Sam Kowal. After completing the job the film is given to Kowal, who later turns up dead after being killed by thugs in a mob hit. The police cannot find any connections Kowal may have had to the mob and determine the hit to be random, but Hawke is not satisfied and begins his own investigation which begins to conflict with the police detective's (Anne Lockhart) investigation. Hawke soon finds out that he and Santini may have filmed something in the desert that the mob boss did not want to be seen. | ||||||
| 24 | 12 | "Condemned" | Tom Blank | Douglas Steinberg | January 5, 1985 (1985-01-05) | 58818 |
| The F.I.R.M. assigns Hawke to investigate a remote facility in Alaska where scientists have been working on an experimental vaccine to counteract the deadly effects of Russian bio-weapon virus set loose in Afghanistan. The F.I.R.M. had already sent a four-man commando team in but they failed to report back. With Santini on vacation, Hawke and Caitlin take the assignment and fly Airwolf to the facility. Upon arrival, they find everyone dead and it looks as if they have all killed each other. Suspicions arise however once Hawke detects a Russian submarine is lurking in nearby waters. | ||||||
| 25 | 13 | "The American Dream" | Virgil W. Vogel | Dennis R. Foley | January 12, 1985 (1985-01-12) | 58817 |
| Hawke helps out a troubled Vietnamese man he fought alongside in Vietnam whose crops are being sabotaged by a rival Vietnamese landowner known as "The Spider". When the sabotage turns to murder, Hawke takes matters into his own hands and is determined to bring the Spider to justice. | ||||||
| 26 | 14 | "Inn at the End of the Road" | Ray Austin | Westbrook Claridge & Alfonse M. Ruggiero, Jr. | January 26, 1985 (1985-01-26) | 58823 |
| When a prototype weapon guidance computer called "LOKI" is stolen by terrorists, Archangel assigns Hawke and Santini to recover the device before it falls into enemy hands. They track the terrorists to a remote mountain lake where the criminals become lost and cannot find their contact. They find a cabin and take the owners hostage, discovering one of them is a pilot, and force him to fly them out. Airwolf gives chase, but during the pursuit has damaged Airwolf and injured Hawke. Time is running out for the hostages who are holed up in a frozen meat locker, and the terrorists have installed the LOKI device in a helicopter gunship and plan to assassinate a visiting foreign dignitary. | ||||||
| 27 | 15 | "Santini's Millions" | Sutton Roley | Michael Halperin | February 2, 1985 (1985-02-02) | 58824 |
| Santini is piloting Airwolf on a mercy mission to deliver a transplant heart to a dying boy in Chicago. Along the way he comes upon a downed aircraft piloted by a millionaire named Carl Barron and comes to his aid. The millionaire is desperate to make a business meeting in L.A. and offers Santini $50,000 to divert from the heart delivery and take him straight there, but Santini refuses and continues on to Chicago. With the heart delivered, Santini takes Barron to L.A. in record time, but very late for the meeting. Later that evening, for no apparent reason, Barron commits suicide but leaves behind a will that gives half riches to his niece and the other half to Santini, "the most honest man he ever met". Both Santini and Barron's selfish business partner are stunned by the act, but the partner denies the will and refuses to hand any money over to Santini. Santini clearly does not want to be involved in the first place but quickly finds himself in over his head and his life possibly in danger. | ||||||
| 28 | 16 | "Prisoner of Yesterday" | Georg Fenady | Chester Krumholz & T.S. Cook | February 9, 1985 (1985-02-09) | 58825 |
| Hawke is on a relaxing fishing trip with a doctor friend named Jason Gifford, but the tranquil setting is disturbed when two South American rebels show up and kidnap Dr. Gifford at gun-point and disable Hawke's Jeep so he cannot follow. Determined to get his friend back, Hawke learns that Gifford had been treating a South American President with antibiotics but the man is suffering from radiation poisoning which had been traced back to Gifford's drugs. The plot thickens when upon arrival in the country, Hawke learns a rebel leader is plotting an attack on the American Embassy and to overthrow the President covertly by slowly killing him off, and win political support by framing Gifford (and American involvement) for the death. | ||||||
| 29 | 17 | "Natural Born" | Virgil W. Vogel | Alfonse M. Ruggiero, Jr. & Westbrook Claridge | February 23, 1985 (1985-02-23) | 58830 |
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Stringfellow Hawke and Caitlin talk Dominic into hiring a young hotshot pilot, Kevin Hansen, but do not realize that the kid has more in mind than his employer would suspect. Kevin is after the men who killed his beloved Uncle Chester Hansen (Noble Willingham). He taught Kevin how to fly helicopters and was admired and loved by his nephew. When Chester Hansen refused to join some of his business associates in airborne drug-running, he was killed. Whilst performing aerial stunts for Santini Air he spots the dealer's unusual black helicopter and gives chase. Hawke and Santini have no idea what the boy is doing and decide to ground him since he will not tell them about the murder. Secretly, Kevin plans to hunt down the killers and bring them to justice. Production note: Stuntman Reid Rondell was killed during the filming of this episode in the crash of a Bell 205 used in the production. | ||||||
| 30 | 18 | "Out of the Sky" | Bruce Seth Green | Gregory Harris & Charles Winston | March 2, 1985 (1985-03-02) | 58827 |
| Hawke and Santini film aerial footage for a music video by country star Roxanne Marvel (Misty Rowe). Unknown to everyone, Roxanne's corrupt manager and ex-husband is plotting her murder to boost record sales, and replaces her with a body double. Unfortunately for him, the double is not on par to the singing talent of the original and the dupe is revealed, however it is too late since the real Roxanne has already been kidnapped by the manager's thugs. Hawke and Santini mount a rescue in Airwolf and have to recover the star before her big concert appearance. | ||||||
| 31 | 19 | "Dambreakers" | Virgil W. Vogel | Story by : Westbrook Claridge & Alfonse M. Ruggiero, Jr. & Douglas Steinberg Teleplay by : Westbrook Claridge & Alfonse M. Ruggiero, Jr. | March 9, 1985 (1985-03-09) | 58832 |
| Hawke is hired to fly a news reporter to interview a group of religious puritans who have an isolated commune near a hydro-electrical dam. Hawke and the reporter discover the villagers have been taken hostage by a group of terrorists who disable Hawke's helicopter and prevent them from leaving. They are then held as hostages where the leader gives the reporter the news story of her career; his plan is to blow up the Tidewater Dam if fellow extremist members are not released from American prisons. Hawke manages to escape and gets a message through to Santini. He and Caitlin come looking for him with Airwolf, but they will have to contend with the terrorist's B-25 bomber which will be used to destroy the dam. | ||||||
| 32 | 20 | "Severance Pay" | Sidney Hayers | Chester Krumholz | March 16, 1985 (1985-03-16) | 58806 |
| Hawke is assigned to find Larry Mason (Arte Johnson), a disgruntled former F.I.R.M. agent, who has been shafted on his retirement benefits. As a result, Mason begins to reveal classified information to the press about his previous employer and it begins to jeopardize foreign relations and national security. One of the secrets threatening to be leaked is the existence of Airwolf and the whole story behind it. When specific information is leaked about a mission that Mason was never involved with, Hawke becomes suspicious and believes there has to be another mole lurking inside the F.I.R.M. Martin Milner guest stars as Arthur Barnes. | ||||||
| 33 | 21 | "Eruption" | Tom Blank | Story by : Kevin Hartigan Teleplay by : Kevin Hartigan & T.S. Cook | April 6, 1985 (1985-04-06) | 58829 |
| Hawke and Santini are on a job to take atmospheric samples around Mt. Catherine, a dormant volcano that is showing signs of "waking up". They collect their data just in time to witness Catherine "blow her top" and escape the blast. The eruption shock destroys a town in a nearby valley and Hawke and Santini set down to render aid. They find some of the survivors holed up in an abandoned mine where another quake from Catherine nearly kills Hawke as he tries to guide them out. Hawke soon discovers the real danger is not the volcano, but a rival community leader (Mills Watson) with murderous plans to eliminate the town mayor and make it look like an accident. A grown-up Angela Cartwright (Penny Robinson from Lost in Space) guest appears as Mrs. Krannovitch. | ||||||
| 34 | 22 | "Short Walk to Freedom" | Virgil W. Vogel | Robert Blees & Dorothy Robinson | April 13, 1985 (1985-04-13) | 58831 |
| Caitlin is hired to fly a group of archeology students and their teacher to Mayan ruins in South America. In reality, the teacher is really a mastermind thief and is using the trip as cover to steal whatever priceless artifacts he can find. The trip goes astray however, when a group of guerilla fighters block the road and hijack the bus. The F.I.R.M. learns of the hostage crisis through their South American contacts and Archangel informs Hawke of the situation. He and Santini quickly mount a rescue in Airwolf to find Caitlin and the students. Once the guerilla fighters see Airwolf arrive they plan to capture the high-tech chopper for themselves and fire a missile to bring her down. | ||||||
Season 3 (1985–86)
The third season premiered on September 28, 1985, and concluded on March 29, 1986, with 22 episodes aired. Following the departure of series creator Donald P. Bellisario, Bernard Kowalski stepped in as executive producer for a third season, but after ratings remained low, the series was canceled by CBS.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | 1 | "The Horn of Plenty" | Sutton Roley | Sutton Roley | September 28, 1985 (1985-09-28) | 61108 |
| Hawke flies a woman named Angelica (Catherine Hickland) to an Arizona resort where she carries a suitcase full of priceless gems for a buyer named John Bradford Horn (Richard Lynch). A sudden change in plans sends Hawke and Angelica to Horn's private compound in Texas, but upon landing, they are surrounded by armed men and taken prisoner. A videotape is sent to Santini where Hawke explains he is being held captive and tells Santini to deliver Airwolf to Horn's compound by a certain time or he'll be executed. Santini informs Archangel of the situation, who devises a plan. He tells Santini to deliver Airwolf as requested, but he will provide a platoon of soldiers who will storm the compound once Hawke is safe. The plan backfires when Hawke shoots Santini with a tranquilizer gun as soon as he sets Airwolf down. | ||||||
| 36 | 2 | "Airwolf II" | Don Medford | Story by : Louie Elias Teleplay by : Al Martinez | October 5, 1985 (1985-10-05) | 61113 |
| Hawke is interrupted during a friend's ceremony when Archangel arrives to inform him that Hawke is suspected in a train robbery where the thieves used a Santini Air helicopter and a weapon similar to one Airwolf carries, to stop the train. Hawke, Santini and Caitlin are baffled when the FBI finds the getaway chopper, complete with several bullet holes, parked at Santini's hangar as further evidence. Archangel uses his perks to help Hawke as much as he can but then he is dismissed from the F.I.R.M. under suspicions that he may have also been involved in the robbery. Investigating further, Archangel discovers the F.I.R.M. has built a second Airwolf, dubbed Redwolf, and the designer, Harlen Jenkins (Wings Hauser), who is still loyal to the notorious Dr. Moffet, has a personal vendetta against Hawke. Jenkins reveals to be one responsible for the set up by hijacking Redwolf and kidnapping Caitlin. It is a deadly showdown begins with Hawke in Airwolf against Jenkins in Airwolf II to see which wolf can outmatch the other. | ||||||
| 37 | 3 | "And a Child Shall Lead" | Allen Reisner | Stephen A. Miller | October 12, 1985 (1985-10-12) | 61110 |
| A leading aircraft designer, Robert Phelps, is abducted by foreign agents to the horror of his mentally challenged son, Bobby. Hawke takes the assignment to find Phelps, obtaining leads from Bobby, whose autism gives him the ability to draw detailed clues from memory. While in the agent's custody, Phelps has a sudden heart-attack and is rendered useless to them. Learning that his latest design plans could be accurately reproduced by Bobby, the agents attempt to kidnap him, but Hawke and Airwolf get in their way. Larry Linville guest stars as Clinton Maxwell. | ||||||
| 38 | 4 | "Fortune Teller" | Sutton Roley | Story by : James L. Novack & Rick Kelbaugh Teleplay by : Rick Kelbaugh | October 19, 1985 (1985-10-19) | 61105 |
| Archangel fails to meet Hawke and Santini at a secret rendezvous point, and the F.I.R.M. learns he has been kidnapped and being tortured by a criminal military hardware dealer named Stoner. They give Hawke 48 hours to find him, or the F.I.R.M. will send in their group of assassins known as "Zebra Squad" to take him out themselves. Stoner wants information about a device called "The Fortune Teller" which allows a pilot to fly his aircraft through mental commands. Hawke and his companions with the aid of a psychic medium race to save Archangel before the Zebra Squad can be activated. | ||||||
| 39 | 5 | "Crossover" | Don Medford | Elliot West | October 26, 1985 (1985-10-26) | 61106 |
| Hawke is working covertly for the F.I.R.M. in Baja, Mexico to meet defecting Czech laser-scientists Victor Janek (John van Dreelen), and his daughter, Inge. Hawke soon learns that a Soviet bounty-hunter (Albert Paulsen) is hot on the duo's trail with orders to eliminate them. The hunter manages to kill Victor, but Hawke and Inge get away and make a run into the desert. Santini and Caitlin become dismayed when Archangel refuses to help them since Hawke has crossed over from the F.I.R.M.'s strict mission stipulations, and has already been written off. Santini and Caitlin go out in Airwolf to rescue them on their own. A determined government agent wants custody of Inge, but Archangel refuses. When the agent tries tracking Archangel's movements to find her, Inge recommends a known ally she and her father trust. However when she is in his custody nobody knows that the man has ties to the Soviets. | ||||||
| 40 | 6 | "Kingdom Come" | Harvey S. Laidman | Story by : Michael Halperin Teleplay by : Rick Kelbaugh & Michael Halperin | November 2, 1985 (1985-11-02) | 61107 |
| A stockpile of nuclear detonators, (which can detonate any large amount of radioactive material and turn into a deadly bomb), are stolen from a government facility. The mastermind behind the robbery is the facility chief of security and gets close to Caitlin to kidnap her. The robber wants to smuggle the detonators out of the country using Hawke and Santini to fly Airwolf, whose stealth technology will provide perfect cover. Adding to the complication the robber attaches explosive devices to Caitlin and inside Airwolf in case Hawke and Santini deviate or pursue. | ||||||
| 41 | 7 | "Eagles" | Virgil W. Vogel | Edward J. Lakso | November 9, 1985 (1985-11-09) | 61109 |
| An advanced airplane built by Stappleford Industries, the "X-400", is to be handed over to the U.S. Air Force who are interested in the craft's performance. The X-400's main test pilot, Roane Carver, knows the plane has potentially deadly flaws and interferes with the final sale knowing her company is selling a dangerous lemon and steals the schematics. Hawke gets involved in helping Roane fight her greedy employer, who goes as far as attempted murder to shut her up and get the plans back. | ||||||
| 42 | 8 | "Annie Oakley" | Daniel Haller | Story by : Carleton Eastlake Teleplay by : Harold Stone & Rick Kelbaugh | November 16, 1985 (1985-11-16) | 61102 |
| An advanced laser device called "The Mongoose", is stolen from a F.I.R.M. transport while it was on its way to a testing ground. The thief, Karl Stern, is expected to sell the laser on the black market to an East German buyer, but when his partner, Slade, realizes he is being shafted on his cut of the sale money, he threatens to go to the F.I.R.M. for a reward. Stern refuses to give in so Slade carries out his threat and makes the call. Hawke and Santini are ordered to pick up Slade at a wild west rodeo, but Slade is killed in a mysterious accident. It is now up to them to find and secure the weapon before Stern can smuggle it to Cuba. Tia Carrere makes a brief guest appearance as Kiki Tanabi. | ||||||
| 43 | 9 | "Jennie" | Bernard L. Kowalski | Katharyn Michaelian Powers | November 23, 1985 (1985-11-23) | 61115 |
| Hawke and Caitlin go to a war-torn South American country, meeting up with a legendary soldier named "El Gato", and work to find an imprisoned scientist. Hawke learns that in the year the scientist was held, he developed a robotic tank called the "ALV" (Automated Land Vehicle) which can be piloted remotely and it is now in the possession of the rebel forces. The group springs the scientist, during which El Gato is killed. Outnumbered, the group hides out in remote village where they meet an American woman who is teaching deaf children. The rebel army sends the ALV into the village to wipe it out and the only hope lies in Airwolf to destroy the tank first. | ||||||
| 44 | 10 | "The Deadly Circle" | Harvey S. Laidman | Robert Specht | November 30, 1985 (1985-11-30) | 61111 |
| The families of three of Hawke's Vietnamese friends have been kidnapped and taken to an isolated compound in the California desert. He discovers the kidnappers are survivors of "Village #108" which was a target destroyed in an air strike led by Hawke and his three friends after intelligence said it was a Viet-Cong hide out. Archangel reveals the original intelligence was wrong and Hawke's men had destroyed an innocent village by mistake. Now the two survivors from that village seek revenge and plan to execute the families in a similar airstrike of the compound where they are being held. | ||||||
| 45 | 11 | "Where Have All the Children Gone?" | Daniel Haller | Story by : Alan Godfrey Teleplay by : Al Martinez | December 14, 1985 (1985-12-14) | 61114 |
| A Vietnam War buddy of Hawke's named John Fargo has died and been laid to rest. Hawke takes Fargo's coffin flag and war medals to a small town to give them to Fargo's only relative, his estranged brother Billy, who did not show at the funeral. Billy however, is nowhere to be found, and a young girl at his residence informs Hawke he does not live there anymore. Hawke tries to locate the local Sheriff but finds Billy running the town which is populated by hippy youths who look upon Billy as their "father figure". Hawke's snooping lands him in jail until Santini comes looking for him. Santini springs him out and the two discover the militia trained youths have stolen a nuclear missile called "Spaceguard" from a nearby aerospace facility and plan to target Washington D.C. in the ultimate "anti-war" message. Hawke and Santini must press Airwolf to her limits and stop the missile before it hits its target. This is the episode wherein Airwolf pushed its altitude limit from 85,000 to 100,000 feet (upper limit of the atmosphere) and its speed to Mach 2. | ||||||
| 46 | 12 | "Half-Pint" | Bernard McEveety | Robert Janes | December 21, 1985 (1985-12-21) | 61117 |
| Hawke discovers that his brother St. John has a half-Vietnamese son named Le Van, nick-named "Half-Pint", who is living with an adopted family. The adopted father Darren McBride tells Hawke that he was part of St. John's strike team where he personally saw his brother go down during a raid on a Viet Cong chemical weapons facility and believes he was killed. Hawke does not believe the story and checks on McBride's war record which is a clean slate. Hawke then takes his nephew for a weekend trip to his cabin and spends time getting to know his new nephew. Hawke gets emotional when he has to return Le Van to the McBride family but later gets involved when he learns Le Van has run away from home. Hawke, McBride and his friend Glen Carson search for him, finding the boy being harassed by street thugs. Hawke gets suspicious when he learns Carson is somehow involved with the thugs and finds out he and McBride are running a mercy operation to retrieve dead American soldiers still being found in Vietnam. The coffin operation turns out to be a cover for Carson's cocaine smuggling business. | ||||||
| 47 | 13 | "Wildfire" | Vincent McEveety | David Westheimer | January 11, 1986 (1986-01-11) | 61116 |
| Santini gets to spend time with an old oil-drilling friend named "Big Cec" (Ken Curtis) and his son "Lil' Cec" (Ken Olandt). Santini is shocked to learn the son was thrown out of college for marijuana possession and their "father-son relationship" has been falling apart since Cec's wife died. Big Cec hopes things will go better for his son now that he was given a promising job at the oil company, but trouble really begins when it is revealed that Lil' Cec job has been smuggling drugs out of Mexico for the company's shady owners. Lance LeGault makes his third and final appearance on Airwolf as Noble Flowers. Gregory Sierra, who played Julio Fuentes on Sanford and Son, guest stars as Ochoa. | ||||||
| 48 | 14 | "Discovery" | Alan Cooke | Story by : Del Reisman Teleplay by : Stephen A. Miller | January 18, 1986 (1986-01-18) | 61118 |
| The criminal mastermind, John Bradford Horn (John Vernon) (credited as John R. Vernon) returns, and has sent his henchmen to execute a woman, Grace Harrison, and her boyfriend out in the desert. Grace is shot but manages to get away, crawling into a cave which happens to be the hiding spot of Airwolf. Hawke and Santini rush out in response to a security alarm and find Grace unconscious and near death. The two take her to a hospital run by the F.I.R.M. She is treated, and Archangel decides to let her go, but puts a tail on her. Grace is captured again by Horn but she reveals the location of Airwolf in exchange for her life. | ||||||
| 49 | 15 | "Day of Jeopardy" | Georg Fenady | Story by : Everett Chambers Teleplay by : Rick Kelbaugh | January 25, 1986 (1986-01-25) | 61119 |
| Tess Dixon (Anne Lockhart), the wife of the infamous crimelord Cullen Dixon (Clu Gulager), and an old flame of Hawke's, escapes her husband's bodyguards and Archangel contacts Hawke to deliver her to a safehouse. She plans to testify against her husband's involvement in a plot to assassinate several top-ranking Washington officials, but Hawke's previous involvement with Tess makes it difficult for him. He must set his feelings aside once Tess comes under attack by Cullen's thugs and a mole within the F.I.R.M. who will make sure Tess does not live to testify. G. Gordon Liddy guest stars as Barkley Kase. | ||||||
| 50 | 16 | "Little Wolf" | Bernard McEveety | Robert Specht | February 1, 1986 (1986-02-01) | 61122 |
| Hawke is visiting a former Vietnam War pal named Greg Stewart and finds him in the midst of a child custody battle between him and his ex-wife, Rainey. The battle becomes more complicated when Greg's rich mother Martha, gets involved and refuses to release the child from her custody at her ranch. Rainey hides the child in Santini's car, and he and Hawke quickly find themselves accused of kidnapping. The baby was played by twins Max and John Kenworthy. | ||||||
| 51 | 17 | "Desperate Monday" | Gregory Prange | Story by : Robert Janes Teleplay by : Rick Kelbaugh & J.L. D'Angeles | February 8, 1986 (1986-02-08) | 61120 |
| Caitlin is attending a Kappa Lambda Chi fraternity homecoming on the Queen Mary luxury liner. Unbeknown to her, one of her friends, Barbara Scarelli, the daughter of a rich businessman, is about to be kidnapped in an extortion attempt set up by her shady boyfriend Robert (Bryan Cranston). The kidnap attempt backfires when one of the kidnappers kills one of Barbara's bodyguards and sets off alarms. In a panic, the three thugs take the whole gathering hostage and make demands for a helicopter to the SWAT team that stands by. The F.I.R.M. sends in Airwolf to trap and take the criminals out. | ||||||
| 52 | 18 | "Hawke's Run" | Richard Irving | B.W. Sandefur | February 15, 1986 (1986-02-15) | 61127 |
| An old Vietnam War buddy invites Hawke to join his mercenary squad, but Hawke turns down the offer. The friend then invites Hawke to an art showing, but before he can respond to that request, an assassination squad appears. Hawke is shot, but manages to escape. He is helped by a passerby who gets him to the hospital under an assumed name. Hawke tries to contact Archangel for help, but Zeus intervenes and believes Hawke has been compromised and calls in the Zebra Squad to finish him off. Hawke now finds himself running from assassins on both fronts. The leader of the assassin is a supposed dead F.I.R.M. operative. it's also revealed his friend is a spy for the F.I.R.M. and has sensitive intel that the operative is eager to acquire. | ||||||
| 53 | 19 | "Break-In at Santa Paula" | Dennis Donnelly | Edward J. Lakso | February 22, 1986 (1986-02-22) | 61131 |
| Hawke helps a friend get her wrongly convicted son Terry, out of a brutal Mexican prison. Apparently her business is perfect for potential illegal activities; although she refuses, the conspirator put her son in prison as leverage if she doesn't reconsider. Hawke goes to get a layout of the prison and poses as Terry's uncle to get close to him. The rescue attempt fails when Terry refuses to leave a fellow inmate behind and Hawke's cover is blown. He finds himself thrown into the same prison until Santini and Caitlin mount a rescue. | ||||||
| 54 | 20 | "The Girl Who Fell From the Sky" | Don Chaffey | B.W. Sandefur | March 15, 1986 (1986-03-15) | 61132 |
| During a night-time fishing trip, Hawke spots a helicopter fly down and dump a body into the lake. He fishes the body out of the lake finding it to be a young woman who is barely alive and takes her to a hospital. The girl recovers but has lost all memory as a result of being injected with medication that erases her memory. Hawke uncovers her identity as a high class prostitute, but the fact that people are still after her indicates there is more to her identity than anticipated. Eventually it's revealed that a politician is involved in an arms deal and the woman is the only witness to the existence of the deal. | ||||||
| 55 | 21 | "Tracks" | Ron Stein | Rick Kelbaugh | March 22, 1986 (1986-03-22) | 61124 |
| Hawke takes a group of vets who use wheelchairs on an outdoor trip into the mountains, but the group runs across a deranged woodsman known as "The Cat" who has been terrorizing and murdering anyone who trespasses on "his mountain". Santini and Caitlin learn Hawke and the men are in trouble and mount a rescue attempt, racing against time to find the team first before the killer does. | ||||||
| 56 | 22 | "Birds of Paradise" | Bernard L. Kowalski | Robert Janes | March 29, 1986 (1986-03-29) | 61129 |
| Hawke's nephew "Half-Pint" shows up at Santini Air begging for help to find his stepmother, Minh Van McBride, who has been missing for weeks. With Archangel's help, Hawke and Santini track Minh Van's last whereabouts to a swanky nightclub. They learn she has been abducted by Nick Kincaid (Eric Braeden), a "white slaver" who kidnaps foreign women and sells them as sex-slaves. Hawke also learns that Kincaid is a drug trafficker, currently looking for a reputable pilot to smuggle shipments for him. Hawke poses as an interested pilot to get inside Kincaid's operation and locate Minh Van. | ||||||
Season 4 (1987)
For season four, CBS wanted to make the show into a more family-friendly, action-oriented program. Bernard L. Kowalski abandoned the project a year after series creator Bellisario had decided to leave as well. USA Network picked up distribution of the show, but with the remaining principal cast being too expensive to hire, an entirely new cast was created.
Season four aired from January to August 1987, and was produced on a comparatively shoe-string budget. Atlantis Production's contract did not provide the producers with the flying Bell 222 helicopter used for Airwolf, and recycled aerial footage and poorly produced special effects failed to match the quality of the prior seasons. The full-sized mock-up of Airwolf from prior seasons was used for static shots.
In the first episode of this new version, "Blackjack", Hawke's missing brother St. John was suddenly found, creating contradictions to the character's already-varied history. He took over as pilot of Airwolf with its new crew. "The F.I.R.M." was now suddenly referred to as "The Company", and gone were its famous white suits. Filming of the fourth season was completed in six months.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57 | 1 | "Blackjack" | Alan Simmonds | Michael Mercer, Jana Veverka | January 23, 1987 (1987-01-23) | 0906 |
| Hawke and Santini's niece Jo are testing a helicopter control device, and after landing they find an audio tape that someone secretly placed into the helicopter. The tape reveals evidence that Hawke's lost brother St. John is still alive and being held prisoner somewhere in South East Asia by a rebel mercenary group. Hawke takes the tape to the F.I.R.M. where he finds Archangel has been suddenly reassigned to the Middle-East and replaced by Jason Locke. Locke determines the tape proves nothing and refuses to get involved. Later, Hawke receives a mysterious package containing St. John's ring, further proof that his brother may still be alive and trying to send a message. Suddenly, Santini is killed when the helicopter he was about to fly explodes. The blast seriously injures Hawke and he slips into unconsciousness at the hospital. Meanwhile, Locke assigns pilot Major Michael Rivers to find Airwolf and return it to the F.I.R.M. (which has been renamed "The Company"). Jo Santini discovers what is going on and intercepts Rivers convincing him to help her find St. John. Rivers goes against orders and flies Airwolf to Asia to rescue St. John and bring him back home. St. John is found alive and returns to the United States just in time to be with Hawke; whose fate is left unknown. | ||||||
| 58 | 2 | "Escape" | Patrick Corbett | Patrick Kennedy | January 30, 1987 (1987-01-30) | 0901 |
| Jo is in Istanbul awaiting her contact who has smuggled top secret papers out of Bulgaria. The papers contain the locations of Soviet missile installations and are brought to a Stockholm peace conference as evidence that the Soviets are violating treaty stipulations. Her contact fails to show so she goes looking for him and finds him shot. Before he dies he reveals his hiding place for the papers and Jo retrieves them. She gets on her plane for Stockholm but the flight is forced down by Bulgarian fighter jets. Jo is arrested as a spy and taken to a prison. Now St. John and Rivers must rescue her in time for the conference. | ||||||
| 59 | 3 | "A Town for Hire" | Patrick Corbett | Gwen Tulpa, Jordan Nicht | February 6, 1987 (1987-02-06) | 0904 |
| Jo is testing a new navigation computer in her Jet Ranger helicopter, as St. John follows in his plane. Suddenly, both aircraft are fired upon by a laser weapon. Jo crashes in the wilderness but St. John manages to make an emergency landing at a nearby airport. He is injured and taken to the small town of San Maria's hospital, but is furious that no one is looking for Jo's downed helicopter. Once he recovers his strength, he forces a local deputy to go looking for Jo but they can find no trace of the helicopter. The plot thickens as the whole town seems to be under the control of the nearby company, Lundhal Industries. Once the company is revealed to be a secret weapons testing facility, and Jo has stumbled on their operation, St. John fetches Airwolf to conduct a rescue, but soon Airwolf becomes the laser's next target. | ||||||
| 60 | 4 | "Salvage" | Ken Jubenvill | A.P. Liddell | February 13, 1987 (1987-02-13) | 0903 |
| St. John and Rivers go to the remote town of Devil's Peak to meet a former F.I.R.M. employee and check on her story of strange sounds and lights coming from a nearby Indian burial ground. Investigating, the two stumble upon a secret base where an advanced military helicopter called the Scorpion is being tested and ready to be handed over to the KGB. | ||||||
| 61 | 5 | "Windows" | Ken Jubenvill | Leslie McBride | February 20, 1987 (1987-02-20) | 0905 |
| The Company sends the Airwolf crew to tail a KGB agent who has stolen computer boards belonging to a new government spy satellite. The team must recover the boards before they are handed off to his Soviet comrades. They manage to kill the agent and secure one of the boards but the other has already been handed off to a second operative. The crew must get it back before the second agent can escape the country. | ||||||
| 62 | 6 | "A Piece of Cake" | Bruce Pittman | Anthony Robertson | February 27, 1987 (1987-02-27) | 0907 |
| Jo catches a teenage boy hiding at the Santini Air hangar who has run away from a nearby wilderness youth camp. The boy seems afraid of being returned to his abusive grandfather, but Jo and Rivers bring him back to the camp and decide to help make sure nothing happens to the boy. The boy's hostile grandfather shows up threatening to kill everyone with a rifle and a bomb unless his grandson his handed over. In a scuffle, the man kidnaps Jo and takes her to a nearby dam. St. John arrives to help in Airwolf and he and Rivers try to get Jo back before the madman carries out his threat to kill her if his grandson is not returned. | ||||||
| 63 | 7 | "Deathtrain" | Patrick Corbett | Jordan Nicht, Gwen Tulpa | February 27, 1987 (1987-02-27) | 0902 |
| Airwolf is on a mission to guard a train carrying a deadly nerve gas on its way for disposal, but a rebel mercenary group sets up a trap ahead of the train at a mountain tunnel. The train enters the tunnel and the Airwolf's crew temporarily lose sight of it until it reemerges at the other end. Soon, they realize they have been duped and are following a decoy train that was hidden in the tunnel while the real one has been stopped and diverted elsewhere. The mercenaries take the gas canisters off the train and hand them over to their fanatical leader who has his own dubious plans for the deadly chemical. The situation intensifies when Locke and a Russian commander who were on the train to supervise the disposal, are captured and held as hostages. | ||||||
| 64 | 8 | "Code of Silence" | Allan Simmonds | Bartholomew S. Spellman | March 13, 1987 (1987-03-13) | 0910 |
| Airwolf is supporting a group of military helicopters who are returning a kidnapped U.S. Ambassador who has just been set free by friendly ground forces. The mission is being led by Colonel Combs, a man who St. John once served under and is not on good terms with. During the flight home, one of the helicopters piloted by an Army General's son, is shot down and crashes. Now Colonel Combs is being held responsible for the pilot's death. St. John is stunned when Combs chooses his former enemy, St. John, to help in his defense at the court martial. | ||||||
| 65 | 9 | "Stavograd (Part 1)" "The Stavograd Incident (Part 1)" | Ken Jubenvill | Sydney Burrows | March 20, 1987 (1987-03-20) | 0911 |
| On a covert surveillance mission, Airwolf's scanners detect a large plume of radioactive gas being vented from the nuclear power plant at Stavograd, Russia. A new component at the power plant has failed and the engineers cannot stop the dangerous gas leak which is threatening the lives of millions. Disobeying Company orders to not get involved, St. John offers the Russians assistance but they refuse the help and warn not to enter their airspace. St. John pilots Airwolf into Soviet airspace anyway and is quickly fired upon. Although Airwolf avoids their missile strike, she is eventually surrounded by Migs and forced to land where the crew are captured. Learning Airwolf has been compromised, The Company simply writes them off and denies involvement. | ||||||
| 66 | 10 | "Stavograd (Part 2)" "The Stavograd Incident (Part 2)" | Ken Jubenvill | Sydney Burrows | March 27, 1987 (1987-03-27) | 0909 |
| The story continues as the Airwolf crew are being held as spies and "The Lady" is in the hands of the enemy. Locke is furious about his employer's decision to abandon them and decides to enter Russia on his own under a bogus passport, posing as an international athlete. Arriving at Stavograd, Locke attempt to get the crew out of lock up, but his cover is blown and he finds himself in jail with them. Once St. John learns of the commanding officer, General Kirov's plan to fire a missile into the Stavograd reactor to seal the leak, St. John indicates that only Airwolf's laser can fire so accurately. When one of Kirov's fighters tries the maneuver and fails, Kirov turns to St. John's plan, but St. John negotiates to do the job only if they release his companions. Kirov reluctantly agrees, and as promised, St. John flies Airwolf to the reactor to seal the leak. | ||||||
| 67 | 11 | "Mime Troupe" | Bruce Pittman | Lyal Brown, Barbara Brown | April 3, 1987 (1987-04-03) | 0908 |
| The Airwolf crew go to France to protect Anna LeBlanc, the star of a mime troupe and whose father is dedicated to fighting terrorism. The Company believes she may be the target of a retaliation after her father receives a threat letter. St. John and Locke try to uncover who is plotting her demise, while Jo and Rivers stay close to the girl, but she does not believe her life is in danger once the agents reveal who they are. | ||||||
| 68 | 12 | "X-Virus" | Ken Jubenvill | Lyal Brown, Barbara Brown | April 10, 1987 (1987-04-10) | 0912 |
| St. John investigates the murder of a Japanese businessman who was injected with a deadly experimental virus. St. John learns that if the virus were released it could kill millions of people. Now he must uncover the madman behind its creation and avert his deadly attack. | ||||||
| 69 | 13 | "Rogue Warrior" | Brad Turner | R.B. Carney | April 24, 1987 (1987-04-24) | 0914 |
| Once again the Company tries to take possession of Airwolf after Rivers and Locke ignore orders not to proceed into Soviet airspace and retrieve information from a double agent. On their return home, The Company fires Locke, along with the rest of the Airwolf crew and they demand "The Lady" be handed over immediately. | ||||||
| 70 | 14 | "Ground Zero" | Alan Simmonds | Michael Mercer | May 1, 1987 (1987-05-01) | 0915 |
| Jo is kidnapped by a Japanese businessman and forced to fly him to a nuclear power plant. St. John discovers that the man was a Japanese pilot, shot down in World War II by his father, and he seeks revenge. | ||||||
| 71 | 15 | "Flowers of the Mountain" | Randy Bradshaw | Stephen Ainsworth | May 8, 1987 (1987-05-08) | 0913 |
| St. John is testing a new military aircraft called the "Viper", but something goes wrong with the plane and bails out before it crashes. After it is revealed that the company who engineered the plane has made a lemon and just wants a quick military sale, St. John tries to expose their scheme but quickly finds himself on the run after the company sends hit men after him. | ||||||
| 72 | 16 | "The Key" | J. Barry | Rick Drew | May 15, 1987 (1987-05-15) | 0916 |
| Anti-nuclear protestors seize nuclear missiles in both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. The group threatens to detonate them unless both countries destroy their nuclear stockpiles. At the same time Airwolf is off the shore of a Scottish island, while Mike infiltrates the group's headquarters to get a code that can stop the plan. Mike gets caught and the protest group's leader is killed by his partner. The partner drugs Mike to get him to give up Airwolf's location. Hawke frees Mike before he talks. | ||||||
| 73 | 17 | "On the Double" | Ken Jubenvill | Frank Kniest | May 22, 1987 (1987-05-22) | 0917 |
| Mike's near twin, an East German pilot, will appear at a European air show and Mike has to replace him, while he is debriefed. Things get complicated, with a schedule change, and Mike has to rush his mission training. At the air show the Airwolf team find that the East Germans are on to the agent and have imprisoned his wife until he completes his part in the air show. | ||||||
| 74 | 18 | "Storm Warning" | Brad Turner | Michael Mercer | May 29, 1987 (1987-05-29) | 0918 |
| In a war-torn South American country, Airwolf must rescue Hawke's friend, Jack, from a local General. Hawke and Mike break in, while Locke uses Airwolf to provide cover. Unfortunately, Jack is already dead, leaving the mystery of where some smuggled money might have gone unsolved. | ||||||
| 75 | 19 | "The Golden One" | George Erschbamer | Ray Hoagan | July 3, 1987 (1987-07-03) | 0919 |
| An Afghan rebel wants military weapons and Jo Santini. Meanwhile Hawke and Jo are testing Airwolf when Jo gets a message. A former boyfriend wants to see her, and asks her to visit him in Afghanistan. She does go, unknowingly walking into a trap. | ||||||
| 76 | 20 | "The Puppet Master" | Zale Dalen | Jordan Nicht, Gwen Tulpa | July 10, 1987 (1987-07-10) | 0921 |
| Locke falls for a beautiful woman, who works for the Ridgemont Institute. The Institute is run by a former employee of the F.I.R.M. who was a mind control expert. When Kate shows Locke her workplace, he is captured and an implant is used to gain control of him. He is then sent home, unaware of the control in an attempt to get Airwolf. | ||||||
| 77 | 21 | "Malduke" | Ken Jubenvill | Michael Mercer | July 17, 1987 (1987-07-17) | 0923 |
| Hawke and Mike find out via television that a madman (Dick Van Dyke) wants all diseased people quarantined so they can no longer contaminate the world. Airwolf is sent to investigate. The madman finds out about Airwolf and threatens to poison the Pacific if it is used against him. | ||||||
| 78 | 22 | "Poppy Chain" | Ken Jubenvill | Chris Haddock | July 24, 1987 (1987-07-24) | 0920 |
| In Laos, Mike tries to capture one of the world's largest opium suppliers. After he fails, Hawke, Jo, and Mike are sent on separate missions to stop portions of the drug lords operation. | ||||||
| 79 | 23 | "Flying Home" | Brad Turner | Rick Drew, Chris Haddock, Jana Veverka | July 31, 1987 (1987-07-31) | 0922 |
| Hawke and Mike investigate stolen plutonium, while Jo's dad lets her know that he is dying. The guys find out that an employee was blackmailed into the theft by neo-Nazis who want a nuclear weapon. | ||||||
| 80 | 24 | "Welcome to Paradise" | J. Barry | James S. Hughs | August 7, 1987 (1987-08-07) | 0924 |
| Hawke ends up helping an old friend, who owns an aircraft charter service, at the friend's wife request. They find him shot dead. They go after the man responsible, who wants the land for his lumber scheme. | ||||||
Notes and references
- "Airwolf: Shadows of the Hawke". TV.com. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- "Airwolf - Season 1 (region 1)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- "Airwolf - Season 2 (region 1)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- "Airwolf - Season 3 (region 1)". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- "Press Release from 1987". USAnetwork.com. Archived from the original on 2009-02-26. Retrieved 2009-06-22.
- The above mentioned VHS version (aka 'The Movie') shuffled and re-edited many scenes (including using footage from the first season episode "Mad Over Miami"), and dubbed in a number of profanities, including multiple instances of "fuck". It also removed a lot of the elements that set the scene for the series, including Hawke and Santini finding a hiding place for Airwolf in the desert, and Hawke refusing to return the helicopter until hard evidence about the fate of his missing brother St. John.
- The original television version of the Pilot was still rather graphic in some scenes, and included some, such as those mentioned above, and one of Moffet torturing Gabrielle in the desert, which were often removed from repeat broadcasts for being too strong. (Also, in America, syndication versions always have a shorter running time, to clear room for additional commercial sales). As a result, the original, complete version of the Pilot was quite rare for many years, until the release of the Season One DVD box set in 2005.
- Initially, this opening film was known simply as "Airwolf" or "Pilot" (VHS releases titled it "Airwolf: The Movie"). After a few showings on the USA Network cable channel in this form, it was converted into two one-hour episodes under the title "Shadow of the Hawke and added to the series rerun package.
- After the Pilot, this was the first episode produced in the regular run.
- The plot of this episode is a re-working of the second season Magnum, P.I. episode "Italian Ice".
- This episode marks the first time that Caitlin is confirmed of the existence of Airwolf, and the first time in which she flies in it.
- The working title of this episode was Angel of Mercy. Although the final title, used on-screen, is Fallen Angel, it can still occasionally be found billed as Angel of Mercy.
- The working title of this episode was Heroes. Although the final title, used on-screen, is Once A Hero, it can still occasionally be found billed as Heroes.
- Check-Six.com - "Pulling All the Stunts..."
