Airwolf, Streethawk and Knightrider. My childhood in a nutshell, and probably every other 80's kid.

I was a staff writer and wrote episodes for "AIRWOLF II" (the WALMART season) Your take on that last season is pretty accurate. We did our best to make an entertaining series but it was an uphill battle given we had a fraction of the budget and shooting time. It was a lot of fun to write, and to my surprise, even our admittedly lesser-than season 4 has its own devoted fan base who still appreciate the 24 episodes we produced. I mostly credit that to our stellar cast. The effort to import poor JMV across the border to shoot was complicated by legal charges he was facing in the US. He was a sad sight even then. We had the helmets from the original show -- JMV's helmet had a wired remote because he was often too wasted to find the button on the side to open the visor. You will also note that the helmets covered their mouth -- this was to enable them to use close-ups as stock footage and record the necessary dialogue in post. We did the same, but for budget reasons -- our cast was sober! We DID have the full original set AIRWOLF - not just pieces of it -- but we couldn't take it outside to even pretend we landed it! For inspiration, I would sometimes sit in it to think and write. In addition to the stock footage, we used a radio-controlled Airwolf model for several scenes. It was a difficult show to write given the 'heroes' were essentially mercenaries with a killing machine that was the titular hero. That created a necessity to create situations and villains BAD enough to justify using AIRWOLF.

Airwolf can never be replicated... The 3 guys JM Vincent, E.Borgnine and A. Cord were absolutely awesome... They made my childhood a great one .. Rest in Peace to to the characters who went before us...and thank you ..

This show was responsible for peaking my interest in aviation. Been an airline pilot for over 20 years now. Loved this series so much.

I was 11 in 1984. So, Air Wolf, Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazzard, Magnum P.I., and of course, both mesmerizing "V" mini-series were huge hits for me.

Absolutely loved this show back in the day. That theme song!!!

The scene during the intro where Airwolf is supposed to be flying through a B-52 bombing run always was one of the best scenes of the show . The pyrotechnics that were exploding where supposed to go off as the helicopter flew past but they were triggered too early . The dirt that covered the canopy and fuselage was real and the vortex caused in the dust by the rotor blades made for an incredible shot . Luckily no one was hurt and the scene was able to be used .

Thanks for this trip down memory lane. I saw Jean Michael Vincent and the Airwolf chopper in person when they did what I presume was a world tour. They came to Cape Town as one of their stops. I remember JMV joking that the real star of the show was Airwolf and that he was just the co-star. Seemed like a very nice guy. It was an unreal experience.

Some backup info on the crash: The helictopter was used to fly a child with severe burns from an emergency room in Berlin across Germany to a specialized clinic at Cologne, in already hostile weather. On the way back (without the patient) the pilot lost control in the increasingly severe conditions and crashed into a mountainside. So while it is tragic that three people died in the crash, the helicopter "died" helping someone in a dire situation, rather than just being broken up for scrap after the series wrapped. Because it's mission, getting the child to Cologne so she'd survive, was actually a success.

r.I.P. Jan-Micheal Vincent, Ernest Borgnine & Alex Cord

Airwolf was a great show. I watched the series multiple times. It's just not good without Jan Michael Vincent. And Ernest was such a good actor with a smile like no other.

As a child, this show was absolutely amazing. Airwolf, A Team, and Hulk. The Holy Trinity of 80s shows in my humble opinion.

Best thing about this show is the amazing theme tune!

Never forgotten. The theme song alone is timeless!!!

Airwolf, Knight Rider, Streethawk, Highwayman, truly beyond nostalgic childhood. And their themes are simple but timeless. Love it so much. 💖

A-Team, Knight Rider, and Airwolf were absolutely amazing.

Ernest Borgnine always has a smile on his face that tells you he's just thrilled to have a job.

RIP, Jan Michael Vincent and Ernest Borgnine.

Airwolf was a big part of my childhood and I'm very happy to own the show on Blu-ray. Just like The A-Team and Knight Rider ... two other cornerstones of my childhood! 😉

I adored absolutely everything about Airwolf from beginning to end. So much so, that I don't think a re-boot would capture that original magic we all experienced in the 80s.

Jan Michael Vincent story is as sad as it gets. But these were his best days.

This is my childhood. Seeing this again is like a comfort blanket. It’s a shame all the stars have now left this mortal coil

Did not realize Earnest Borgnine won an Oscar. Legend!

9:40 One small note that might make this scene very slightly less goofy: In the series it was mentioned that Airwolf had this one severe design flaw, that if you shoot the refueling nozzle at the nose of the helicopter even with just a pistol, Airwolf would explode. Since the bad guy was the designer of Airwolf he knew and tried that in this scene.

Knight Rider, Airwolf, A-Team, Street Hawk....hell yes!

I remember talking to Robert Englund about Jan Michael Vincent (they remained good friends after doing a film together) he said it was very difficult for everyone on set because of Jan's issues and with the show being so popular to try and keep that momentum going under those conditions.I think Ernest had a difficult time also there was a renewed interest in him but that came to an end when the show ended before it's time. (I think Jan needs his own video ❤️)

As a 13yo boy, sitting down on a Saturday afternoon in the UK, with my Dad and brother. The intro would start, the Airwolf logo would split and show 'The Lady' flying straight at the camera. To quote Ernest in one episode, 'it sure got my heart a-pumpin'. Happy days. 🥰 Thanks for the upload and happy memories. RIP JMV, Ernest and Alex Cord 🙏

Brings back such FANTASTIC memories. I grew up in a poor family with 6 kids....this show was my Mom and I's absolute favorite...it was the one thing that ALWAYS had her sit down with me to watch. Yeah, the rest of the family watched as well, but my Mom and I were the ones TRULY sucked into the story. GREAT TIMES!!! Wish I would have had some toys in this theme...I don't even know if they made them....but I will never forget my Mom always coming up to tell me to hurry and finish my homework or whatever I was doing to say "its almost time for Airwolf"

Blue Thunder was a good film. Airwolf was a great show. 80's style. Airwolf theme was awesome. If Jan Michael Vincent was sober, I think Airwolf would have lasted longer.

What an amazing series! Way ahead of its time. My favourite as a kid. It got me obsessed with helicopters! Great music too.

Airwolf and Knight Rider my favorite ,80s shows

I loved tv shows with a "vehicle gimmick" as a kid. Knight Rider. Airwolf. Seaquest. Viper. Loved them all!

This and MacGyver were my 2 favorites growing up. Really sad about how Jan Michael Vincent went down such a dark path. He was a big shooting star at that time.

Always loved this show since i was a kid. Here in Germany it was pretty popular. My best buddy in elementary school even had a little toy-Airwolf helicopter that he sometimes took to school. Ernest Borgnine always reminded me of my Grandfather because they both had this grandfatherly jolly attitude and both always put a smile on my face. And actually this personal connection made the show resonate with me even more.

This show was sooooo awesome. One of the shows that inspired me to enroll in flight school. Although I flew fixed wing, my neighbor was a Vietnam chopper pilot, he took me up in his sight seeing helicopter, and he still flew as if he was in Vietnam.... Man what a time it was, Take me back to the 90's! One of mt dreams was to fly in one of these. I have been scouting companies who have a Bell 222. Id love to fly in one, just for nostalgic reasons now. Someone call String! lol

Dope video, dawg. I was a HUUUUGE Airwolf fan growing up. And then I became a helicopter pilot and realized that 87% of the stuff they did was complete horse shyte.. And somehow that made me love it even more. No cooler chopper ever graced the skies.. Shout out to Peter Mckernan Sr for throwing that heavy azz Bell 222 around the sky like a pro. He's one badass pilot.. He also flew for Blue Thunder and Magnum P.I.

Awesome show. It and Miami Vice were really the first shows I remember that portrayed violence and dark themes in a realistic way. Before that it was basically A-Team type cartoon violence.

Airwolf was a great show. What was even greater was seeing it fly at an airshow in Shafter California (late 80's of course).

This was an amazing show. It really was like an action movie every week.

Airwolf was and still is awesome. I remember the pilot came out on a Sunday night and I missed it because we were at my grandmothers that day and left for home as the show started. In syndication and re-runs they never aired the pilot, so it was not until the DVD release in 2005 that I finally got to see the pilot episode. Some really great moments still with me today from that show.

Airwolf also was a part of the vehicle action trend of the 80s. Knight rider, street hawk, stingray, hardcastle & mccormick, a-team, blue thunder were all centered around a kick ass vehicle.

Yes, I do remember Airwolf. Loved that show when I was ~8 years old! I had no idea how tv worked, I just knew every once in a while that awesome helicopter show would come on.

I just stumbled upon a signed copy of the pilot of this show yesterday, left to me by my dad. This video brought back lots of great nostalgic memories for me. Thanks for the content

Airwolf was one of my holy trinity when I was a kid! Airwolf, Streethawk and Knightrider, they don’t make shows like these anymore.

I loved Airwolf back in the 80s and have always been a fan of Ernest Borgnine. I've seen heaps of his movies over the years including Marty. He was a true Legend!

This show, its theme tune and action was simply amazing tv to watch as a kid. Missed but nit forgotten

When I was about 7, my nan bought me a Raleigh Burner BMX, my next door neighbour had a Chopper, with the 3 gears, he called his bike Knight Rider... I was so jealous.. so I called my Burner Street Hawk ( which in retrospect was a much better name ) and I used to ride around my neighbourhood for hours and hours and because I didn't have a Walkman, I just used to play *this* theme tune in my head from about 4.30pm ( after tea ) till about 8pm, when it was time to go home.. Thank you so fricken much Sylvester Levay

As much as I wish that this iconic show could be revived to it’s original perfection again, I know it cannot. The original cast and the original feelings and excitement that it produced for all of us who watched it in the 80s, can never be reproduced. Never. It would never match up. Let’s all just enjoy the nostalgia and share this magnificent show with our posterity. R. I. P. Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine and Alex Cord. Thank you all for the ride! We love you. 🚁❤️🔥

I remember watching 'Airwolf', but was always puzzled that 'the powers that be' didn't just make another supercopter.

Thank you for this! I'm glad you finally showed Sylvester Levay some love, I would argue that the Airwolf theme and its variations are part of what has fueled its fan longevity, much as Lalo Schifrin's theme has kept Mission: impossible alive in our imaginations for over half a century. I could never really get into Canadian Airwolf, which I thought of as Ehwolf. (String's brother's name is pronounced Sinjin, in much the same way that Scottish pronunciation of St. Clair is Sinclair.) Thanks also for acknowledging the great movie Blue Thunder. I recall Alex Cord best from perhaps Gene Roddenberry's most ambitious post-Trek pilot (well, before Andromeda). It was called Genesis II and featured Cord as Dr. Dylan Hunt (like I say, long before Andromeda), a kind of Buck Rogers figure who awakens from suspended animation long after a devastating nuclear war and proceeds to have adventures restoring civilization. Genesis II got remade twice, as Strange New World and then Planet Earth, but it was a dying cause. I loved Archangel's helper Marella, played by Deborah Pratt, who would marry Bellisario and be the narrator and computer voice for Bellisario's later series Quantum Leap. She had turned up on an episode of Happy Days as a character named, of all things, Kat Mandu. What was great about Airwolf was that it was adventure for adventure's sake, with Hawke meting out vigilante justice with endless impunity -- and that right there might be the hardest thing to try to get away with in any reboot. Airwolf was essential to my 80s machismo fix, balanced by The Equalizer (the original, with Edward Woodward) and then loosely rounded out with Mike Hammer (dreadful scripts, but lots of beautiful women). I hope you do The Equalizer sometime, because with all due respect to Denzel Washington and Queen Latifah, Edward Woodward was The Man. Take care.

Did you just sample The Lonely Man Theme? Kudos! Just like I must give Kudos to Knight Rider, Street Hawk and Airwolf, for being the trifecta of badass vigilante vehicles. That was a monumental time to have grown up in.

I havent Seen a single RC Event without this Icon 🥰

Best things... The tune which is still amazing even today.. The sound that AirWolf makes... still gives me shivers. Stringfellows house.. its still my idea of what I want for a house.

Thank you for making this episode. Airwolf is my favourite show of all time. Used to love watching it with my dad. They’ll never capture the magic or chemistry of this show. That theme song has gotta to be one of the best of all time

Loved the show the theme and the growls from Airwolf!

Mate, Your descriptions relating to bsg is absolutely spot on! Gave me some proper flashbacks. Kudos!

Could not get enough of this show.

I agree with everything you said about bringing it back. If you’re going to bring something back bring it back by being true to its original intent story feeling and style as much as possible. Hollywood’s big problem these days is that they feel like they need to reimagine and reinvent everything and by doing this they generally screw up what made the magic in the first place. Riders need to swallow their pride and learn to write sequels that match the original not that stand out and change everything. Because by doing this they generally only stand out as garbage and failures.

THANK YOU for posting this about one of my FAVORITE TV shows back in those days!! There were a LOT of great shows back then. 🙀😻

Airwolf, the most stunning looking heli (mod) of all time. No other heli till date has ever reached that slick and fast look.

The opening theme really takes me back

Loved watching this as a kid in the 80s along with Blue Thunder.

Thank you for this excellent video. Airwolf and The Equalizer were my two favorite CBS shows. This was one of the coolest shows ever.

The ringtone on my iPhones for the last 10 years has been and is the Airwolf intro theme. The number of positive comments and smiles I get when it rings....such a buzz and a conversation starter. #Airwolfbadass

I always liked the intro music to this series.

I grew up watching this series and hands down Airwolf is still the best looking helicopter i have ever laid eyes on. The thing is class from every angle and then shows its claws to become even more epic. The stunt flying during the making of the series is some of the most porn flying I have seen with the quick gear retractions and 2ft hover scenes. And the sound effects were another league, the electronic in cockpit noises to that banshee turbine wail that even the Vulcan Bomber would be proud of. One of the few shows that has stuck with me for life in vivid memory.

Married with Children, Star Trek: TNG and Airwolf were my 3 favorite shows growing up in the 80's and the first 2 had their foot as much if not more entrenched in the 90's...

Still got love for this show after all these years. I remember that whenever a new episode was shown, I'd stop whatever I was doing so I could watch it. Seasons 1 -3 on DVD & Blu-Ray

It's time to Michael down your Vincents. I was a kid when this aired and I was obsessed with it. Theme tune is an all time banger. And the noise it made when the turbo boost engaged.

Some shows and movies are such Masterpieces and should be left alone, and shouldn’t be remade

Thank you for this video. Growing up in the 80s i enjoyed all the action movies and shows. Airwolf was a favorite of mine and this video brought back great memories. Thank you 👍

That theme song is just so awesome it's one of the three or so theme songs that plays in the back of my head all the time.

Some of my fondest memories from childhood were of watching Airwolf with my father. Arguably the coolest helicopter ever seen on film, the stories were great Cold War tales and JMV was perfect as Hawke and Ernest Borgnine as excellent as Dom, his conscience. Was the show over the top? Probably, but it was fun, something sorely lacking in the vast majority of TV shows and movies these days. And this was arguably one of the greatest theme songs ever and the sound effects were so memorable. Keep on flying high, String and Dom!

AIRWOLF!!!! My 80’s childhood ❤️🇺🇸

A slightly older Hawke... I might pull it off. Would love to try. Loved and still love this show. It contributed to my enthusiasm to serve in the military.

Fun fact. After I moved to Germany in 2019, I was amazed to find a dubbed version on TV. Most amazing part was that they'd renamed Stringfellow to Huckleberry. Not quite the same ring to it!

airwolf, macgyver , knightrider and the A team were my life as an 8yo kid.

Huge JMV fan, so this was a must watch. Thanks for the the video!

Great video. Another TV series that came out in the 80's and before Air Wolf - that had a vehicle as a main part of the tv series was - Knight Rider.

I swear, this world needs like, eight Jan-Michael Vincent's.

I LOVE THIS SHOW, and back in late 2020, I found the complete series on DVD, and I bought it, so I can enjoy it forever.

A-Team and Airwolf. Both awesome and fun shows. Blue Thunder (the movie) was cool as well.

Thanks for the memories... and the in depth info on the cast and series.... good job!!

Great docuPort. Thanks for the trip down memory lane

Loved this show. The beachcombers was another one I don't hear a lot about that I have fond memories of.

Damn right I do. Loved this show. I was heartbroken when I learned that the original Airwolf crashed.

MacGyver, Airwolf, A-Team, Knight Rider, Streethawk - The 80s were awesome.

85 kid here. Airwolf, Knightrider, Baywatch, The A-Team, The Dukes Of Hazard. All those great series with their featured machines.

" I can't believe you people! You haul my butt outta bed after midnight; fly me off to God knows where to see some lousy helicopter." "Its not a lousy helicopter, senator. Its AIRWOLF."

I regularly play the theme song whenever I am on my way somewhere that I really don't want to go, lol! The series is also streaming on Tubi right now. Ernest Borgnine was also in the criminally underrated The Black Hole. I would love to see you all do a video on that movie as well.

Ernest Borgnine had a loooong career. I remember him still being on tv in the 1990’s.

Being a kid in the 80's was the best time! TV was legendary then. Always rem ember watching this with my Brother & Sister. I had the toyset of Airwolf & Santinis helicopter. Great times!

I love this show and have the complete series on DVD.

Two favorite shows of all time for me are Airwolf and Knight Rider. The Lady and K.I.T.T. would still be a hit today, especially with the AI tech being used in both shows during that time; with K.I.T.T. being a almost self aware AI and The Lady being a Learning Your Person's Fighting Style type, would make for a great type of show. Key is finding the human part. D. Hasselhoff was the perfect M. Knight and J.M. Vincent was amazing as Hawk. That is what I think is key to the show. Also both AI Vehicles will need to be treated as a star of the show.

One of the things that was not mentioned and one of the major reasons Airwolf was cancelled in the third season by CBS in 1986, was that citing Jan Michael Vincent's legal problems and his continued substance abuse, they made the decision that Vincent was unable to continue his role as Stringfelllow Hawke.

Bro... that howl of Airwolf's engines at the start of each episode was absolutely Pavlovian. By that noise alone, I knew it was Saturday, and I needed to stop whatever else I was doing and sit my ass down in front of the TV. The music that followed that engine howl would be the soundtrack in my head whenever I rode my bike, Imagining I was piloting that sleek black chopper. It was dark, serious, and so different than anything else on TV at the time

One of the most bad ass thing about the serie was the low altitude flying over hills and terrain. Or at least that's how I thought when I watched this serie has a kid. I remember folding origami chopper from napkins and low flying over food while making Airwolf noises and squinting my eyes trying to look like Stringfellow.

I still can't believe they never made a crossover between Airwolf and Knight Rider. Those two series are like made for each other.

Totally remember this show!

Yes, Airwolf truly needs to be rebooted and brought back to TV!