I am German and after rewatching Airwolf on DVD in English there are some thoughts and questions I’d like to share so maybe I find someone giving me a clue. I know that there is no data concerning this questions, believe me I did search the internet, and obviously no active Airwolf discussion board. What I found was an old Airwolf thread in this board so I hope that there are still some fans around who like to share their thoughts with me.
One big question is the Vietnam War. As I told you, I am German, so my knowing about this war is quite low. I read Wikipedia and googled some things, but most things I want to know are still burried in the dark. I was quite happy when I saw another TV show and eventually found out speabout memorial bracelets and realised why String is wearing a bracelett all the time and was able to imagine what was written on it.
So here are my questions about Vietnam War:
How long was a tour and how long did it take to become Captain?
In the few parts of Airwolf dealing with the war directly, you can see that St. John was captain already and String wasn’t.
Could it possibly be, that St. John went to Vietnam some time before String?
Or do you think they went to some kind of military academy and St. John became captain before going to Vietnam or at least got a higher rank, just below captain, before going there?
String studied Physics and did 2 tours, one must have been at the end of war, because it is said in the show that he helped evacuate Saigon (I think this was in 1975). St. John is said to be MIA since 1969…
So could it be, that String went to Vietnam with his brother for one tour, then returned, went to college/university (can’t tell the difference) and than was ordered back to Vietnam at the end of war? Because the needed pilots to help the evacuation?
And there is some mistake in the show, I think… At one point Strings says that St. John and he did lots of intelligence work “at the end of the war”. How could this be, when St. John was missing since 1969?
What medals did String got? I know they are shown in one episode in the first season but without the right military background it is difficult to get information about that. I only remember that I was impressed by their number.
What was the Air Cav doing? What were their duties? I know that they are mentioned in Full Metal Jacket as well and it seems like that the Marines didn’t liked them. No offense intended! I just want to know…
How old is St. John?
Compared to String he is portraied quite old in the show, so I would guess the difference is about 10 years. But then there is Dom, telling String about this hot girl, he and the boys’ father met in 1943. String gives Dom a strange look and Dom says that this was BEFORE his father met his mother. So the difference must be around 5 years, I think…
Why is there electricity in the cabin?
That’s bothering me since the late 80s, when I first saw the show. I mean, such a secluded cabin and elctricity? I don’t think they have a landline, like houses in the city… Someone told me, there is the possibility to use diesel generators. But wouldn’t that be very loud?
How rich/poor do you think String is?
In my opinion he owns money, in other words is quite rich, but doesn’t care. He made this clear when Arkangel is offering him a million dollars to get Airwolf back. And I think that String doesn’t need much money the way he lives.
The proof that he is rich is to me off course that he DID get the million dollars from the FIRM and the art collection in the cabin, not to mention the Stradivari cello. You can’t get those treasures without being rich and you won’t spend all your riches on getting them and then live in poverty enjoying them.
What do you think happend on the lake when the boys’ parents died?
I mean, it is said that St. John rescued String. Do you think he was the only one in the family who was able to swim?
And why would the boat sink anyway? The lake doesn’t seem to be very dangerous. I can imagine that it is quite cold. Like the lakes in the Alps. So that it would be quite a shock when you fall into the icy water…
Well, that was quite a long text, but I am very curious and Airwolf did have a big impact on me. I fell in love with Stringfellow Hawke right from the beginning. I love his dark nature in the first season and how vulnarable he is, despite showing his tough side all the time. I was searching for information then, too and hoped the internet would help me. I found some information, that’s right, but the really interesting ones I never found.
So this is quite like my last chance and I really hope that you’d like to share your thoughts with me. Maybe you have questions on your own, please feel free to ask
Thanks for reading!
Maybe… but this is in my mind for almost 30 years now… And data is quite bad… And I am curious as a little kitten. That’s the problem. I was always known for asking that kind of questions that forces teachers to look up the answers
Can’t really answer the questions about St. John and 'Nam. I don’t think there was ever much continuity to that story anyway. St. John was just the McGuffin that drove String’s desire to fly the Lady for the Firm. And if we include the 4th season, it turns out that St. John wasn’t MIA at all; he was on a deep-cover CIA mission and shows back up alive and well in 1987 to take over as pilot of Airwolf.
If the cabin isn’t tapped into the electrical grid, he’d have a generator and/or some system to supply a bit of power. Solar panels connected to batteries maybe, or hydropower from an outlet of the lake. The only real power consumption he has out there is the fridge.
Filthy stinkin’ rich. Not liquid, but his art collection alone, even without the cello, is priceless. Again, though, the wealth is just established to explain why String can’t be bought by the Firm. He has “fuck you” money.
Could be anything, but say the boat hits a rock, ejects the family, mom and dad impact other rocks/trees, the boys are alive but hurt, and String gets rescued. I always pictured it somewhat like the beginning of Sleepaway Camp.
I don’t remember anything about the show, beyond that it was “flying Knight Rider”.
But a tour in Vietnam was officially two years, but those two years sometimes got stretched out longer.
And in common usage, there’s no difference in the US between “college” and “university”, in the phrase “went to college” (though we wouldn’t generally say “went to university”). An individual institution will be called one or the other, and a “university” will officially include multiple “colleges” (such as a College of Liberal Arts, a College of Engineering, a College of Graduate Studies, etc.). Most people don’t make much distinction between the different colleges at the same university, though. And an institution that called a “college” will generally be roughly equivalent to the liberal arts college at a university. For example, I would say “I went to college at Villanova University”.
I never got the impression Hawke was rich at all. He was principled. He wouldn’t take money because it’s not who he is, not because he doesn’t need money.
Also, the Ice Cream Man doesn’t push it, because he likes that Hawke is the best pilot for the job, AND he gets plausible deniability on missions. Since he’s obviously supplying new missiles and ammo, if he wanted Airwolf back he’s have no problem just following Hawke back to the “lair” and taking it. (Don’t give me this crap that Hawke is the only one that can fly it in and out.)
The era of the show was the era where there were all these movies about surviving POWs. It was the plot driver of the day. There were always movies and TV episodes about going back for the forgotten ones. Even Magnum PI went down that sinkhole. In real life, there probably weren’t any, but according to Hollywood 50% of POWs were still being held in 1985.
And what kind of weirdo names their kids Stringfellow and St John (and pronounces it Sinjin?) Someone who hates their kids! No wonder Hawke’s so messed up.
What’s the line in the pilot that doomed woman says? “Still expecting people to read your silences?” While that line impressed my 25 year old self, (Such a deep guy! So brooding! Chicks dig it!) as I get older it just shows Hawke is an SOB. Oh, no one feels emotional pain like he does! He’s the only one to ever lose a family member! F-Y, Hawke.
St. John is a not-uncommon last name, and it’s usually pronounced “Sinjin”. That’s probably the origin of the SDMB user with that name. I don’t know Stringfellow, but I imagine that’s a last name, too.
I agree with others that the OP is putting way too much thought into the show.
But I will mention that a remote cabin having electric power is not that unusual. The Rural Electrification Act of 1936 was enacted to help get commercial electric power to remote homes and was quite successful. Many states have a Rural Electrification Authority to this day. Basically, if you had a home out in the boondocks, they would figure out a way to get electrical power to it at a reasonable cost. There are many cases where literally miles and miles of power lines were installed just to get one remote structure on the power grid.
Not completely. Just mostly. It’d no more unrealistic than Die Hard, or Bond movies.
You can’t tell, but when AW flies supersonic the rotors are fixed. It’s just on TV that they look like they are still spinning. A limitation of the medium, as it were.
Of course, the idea that a Bell 222 could do a loop in any universe, now that’s ludicrous!
Airwolf’s biggest problem as a TV show is what I call the “Airwolf Problem”. You have a TV show that relies on some gimmick, or some special tool (that usually costs a lot, and must be amortized) and so you feel you have to use it in every episode. There were a lot of episodes that didn’t need the heli, but since the show was called* Airwolf* and not Hawke, it needed to be used in every episode. So there always had to be someone in a Hughes 500, or a vintage Corsair, that needed shootin’.
If the only thing needing power is a fridge, there are propane-fired ones on the used market, even if Servel hasn’t made them since 1956. That could take care of the lighting problem too.
My grandparents had Servel refrigerators from when they retired to their place in Southern Oregon in 1960/1961, until they had to move into town in the '90s. Their cabin/house was wired for 110 v and 12 v. A generator provided 110 v, and charged a 12 v battery. When the generator ran out of gas, there were 12 v lights. Or it was time to go to bed.
Not really. It’s not just a simple trade off. In a heli, you have to keep the rotors loaded. If you unload a teetering rotor head, like a Bell’s, you can either chop off the tail boom, or have mast bumping, either of which will end your loop, your trip, and possibly your life right quick. It can be done, but note that helis fly “roller coaster” loops - tight ribbon-shaped loops. They don’t do full stunt plane circles. I wouldn’t do it in anything but an articulated rotor head, like a 500 or an Apache. They can do them all day.
It’s also not true in a lot of planes, especially jumbos. You would have to execute it absolutely perfectly, and pretty much that ain’t gonna happen. So chances are, you’ll stall at the top, or rip the wings off coming around the bottom, no matter your altitude. And even if you managed to survive, they’ll never let you back in the pilot’s seat again!
Hm, true, I guess a loop would involve different-enough speeds at the top and bottom that they might not all be withing the aircraft’s range. There are still some pretty impressive aerobatics you can pull while maintaining constant and fairly low gees, though.
As for St John, I never watched the revival season with him back. It looked like it became a “kiddie show”. Was it any good?
On another front, I always get a kick out ofthis model kit. The kit is of the OH-58, but what are those two unidentified choppers in the background? There’s no other reference to the show anywhere other than the picture on the cover. And it came out way after the show was off the air.
They’re Airwolf and the Santini Air Jet Ranger. Not included in the kit, nor available from Fujimi. Nor in the USG inventory. Nor real. Just showed up on the model box.
