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.
| No. | Ep. | Title | Director | Writer(s) | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Shadow of the Hawke" | Donald P. Bellisario | Donald P. Bellisario | January 22, 1984 (1984-01-22) | 58275/58276 |
| The brilliant, yet psychotic 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. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Daddy's Gone a Hunt'n" | Virgil Vogel | Burton Armus | January 28, 1984 (1984-01-28) | 58208 |
| 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. Immediately following the airing of this episode cries of protest erupted in the streets of Hanoi after a young Matthew Ackerson brought to light the fact that a white actor with no Vietnamese background (Chad Allen) was playing the role of a Vietnamese child. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "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 explodes from a bomb 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. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "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. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "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. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Echos From the Past" | Harvey Laidman | C.R. O'Christopher | March 3, 1984 (1984-03-03) | 58211 |
| Hawke gets a lead that his brother St. John is alive and well but being held in a foreign prison camp. Determined to launch a rescue, Hawke 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. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "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 death of her father, who was murdered 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. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Mad Over Miami" | David Hemmings | Joseph Gunn | March 24, 1984 (1984-03-24) | 58216 |
| Santini goes on a mission to deliver $2 million dollars 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. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "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. | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "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. | ||||||
| 11 | 11 | "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. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Airwolf Episodes
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