Airwolf (helicopter)

Airwolf is the helicopter from the 1980s American television series of the same name. Its fictional features included stratospheric ceiling, stealth noise signature, a wide range of weapons and even supersonic speed. The "Airwolf" helicopter was a conventional Bell 222 helicopter modified by attaching some film props.
Bell 222 example.
The flying "Airwolf" was derived from a Bell 222, a twin-turboshaft helicopter produced for the civilian market and typically employed for corporate, emergency medical or utility transport missions, with seating for up to 10, including the pilot.
The airframe used for "Airwolf" was serial number 47085 (registration number N3176S), of the initial production version, sometimes unofficially called a Bell 222A. During filming of the series the helicopter was owned by JetCopters Inc. in Van Nuys, California.
After the show was canceled, the modifications were removed from the aircraft and are now owned by a private collector. The helicopter was repainted and eventually sold to the German helicopter charter company, Hubschrauber-Sonder-Dienst (aka HSD Luftrettung and Blue Helicopter Alliance), and given the registration number D-HHSD. While operating as an air ambulance, the helicopter crashed into a mountain in fog on June 6, 1992, killing all three occupants onboard.
A new, full-size replica of the "Airwolf" helicopter was created by Steven W. Stull for display in the short-lived Helicopter Headquarters museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee that opened in August 2006, using a non-flying Bell 222 with molds taken directly from the originals used in the show. The museum was unsuccessful, and offered the replica for sale through eBay. The replica was housed between 2007 and 2015 in the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in Sevierville, Tennessee. It has since been sold to a private collector in California, having been modified at West Coast Customs during late 2015. The replica is now on top of an expensive mansion in Bel Air, California.
The "Airwolf" helicopter.
"Airwolf" was painted "Phantom Gray Metallic" (DuPont Imron 5031X) on top, and a custom pearl-gray (almost white) on the bottom, in a countershaded pattern. The craft was also fitted with various prop modifications, such as "turbojet" engines and intakes, an in-air refueling nozzle and blister cowling on the nose, retractable machine guns at the wingtips, and a retractable rocket launcher, known as the "ADF Pod" (ADF standing for All Directional Firing, as the pod could rotate 180 degrees to fire at targets at the sides — 90 degrees to the left, forward, or 90 degrees to the right) on its belly.
The look of the modifications was designed by Andrew Probert, and they were first applied to the non-flying mock-up (built from the body of the very first Bell 222, serial number 47001). From this mock-up molds were made so that parts could be made to FAA specifications before they were added to the flying helicopter. After the maiden flight with the modifications, primary pilot David Jones told the producer that "It flies better now than before!"
The machine guns mounted on the side of the landing gear sponsons were mock-ups that used spark plugs and fuel to simulate gun firing. Other modifications were implied with Foley and sets; the interior sets were of a fantastical high-tech nature, and there were implied "stealth" noise-reducing capabilities with creative use of sound effects. On the show, the deployment of the weapons systems were usually shown via close-ups of the action; in reality, these close-ups were produced on props off-site, while the non-moving prop components were attached to the aircraft by a technician in the field or at the JetCopters hangar.
The concept behind "Airwolf" was a super-fast and armed helicopter that could "blend in" by appearing to be civilian and non-military in origin, a "wolf in sheep's clothing". "Airwolf's" insignia patch (also designed by Probert) as worn by the flight-crew was a snarling wolf's head with gossamer wings that appears to be wearing a sheepskin complete with the head of a lamb over the wolf's forehead. "Airwolf" is sometimes referred to in-show as "The Lady" by Santini and Hawke.
In the show, "Airwolf" was an armored, stealthy aircraft. It could perform impossible maneuvers and stunts, including traveling at mach speeds (the theoretical maximum speed of a helicopter is significantly below Mach 0.5, or half the speed of sound), and flying into the stratosphere. Some of these impossible capabilities are explained in the show by such features as auxiliary jet engines (visible at the roots of the landing gear sponsons), rotor blades that can be disengaged for supersonic flight and a lifting body fuselage.
Sound effects were also associated with many of the aircraft's abilities. When "Airwolf" bolted across the sky in "turbo boost" mode, one would hear it "howl like a wolf" as it made a glass-shattering sound effect. When sitting idle, the aircraft made a mechanical trilling sound, and while hovering the rotor blades made a ghostly wind drone.
The weapons were state-of-the-art, with machine guns that could rip apart tanks and bunkers. The belly missile pod could fire a variety of rockets, including air-to-surface Mavericks, Hellfires, and heat-seeking air-to-air Sidewinders. When fired, these rockets usually glowed like a laser bolt or "photon torpedo" from "Star Trek". "Airwolf" was also equipped with an advanced computer system which could identify and track aircraft and ground vehicles. It could display 3D wireframe models and schematics of its targets. The communications system could eavesdrop on radio and telephone conversations, tap into and foul up computer systems, jam enemy transmission frequencies and disrupt ground-based electrical systems. The stealth systems were capable of rendering "Airwolf" invisible to radar, as well as producing multiple radar returns. The weapons system could be tied in with the communications system to lock the missiles onto any monitored electronic system. In the first episode, a Bullpup missile was launched from "Airwolf" against an American destroyer while the helicopter was being used by its in-story inventor, Doctor Charles Henry Moffet.
In one episode ("Airwolf II"), "Airwolf" had a twin, "Airwolf II", also known as "Redwolf". "Redwolf" was secretly built by The Firm to replace "Airwolf", but was subsequently stolen and flown by Harlan Jenkins, its egotistical creator and test-pilot rival of Stringfellow Hawke. "Redwolf" differed from "Airwolf" in that its underbelly was painted red (where "Airwolf" was painted pearl-grey). It was also equipped with a powerful laser weapon coupled with a quick-firing, single-tube rocket pod (although in reality it had no external modifications to the Bell 222). Season 4 also featured a similar copter to "Redwolf", known as the "Scorpion", though the footage of the dogfighting was recycled from the "Airwolf II" episode.
Models.
Over the years a number of licensed "Airwolf" models have been available.