CBS’s Definitive ’80s Action Thriller Series Is Officially Free to Watch on Streaming
CBS’s *Airwolf* has become available to stream for free on The Roku Channel, bringing back a 1980s action series remembered for its spectacular aerial sequences and distinctive helicopter. The show paired Jan-Michael Vincent’s brooding test pilot Stringfellow Hawke with Ernest Borgnine’s mentor Dominic Santini, as they flew missions for an intelligence organisation while Hawke searched for his missing brother.
The series premiered in 1984 and centred on a fictionalised Bell 222, transformed into a supersonic aircraft armed with retractable guns and missiles. The real helicopter was later stripped of its modifications, used as an air ambulance and crashed in 1992; a full-size replica was reported by the Tennessee Museum of Aviation in 2019 to be perched on a Bel Air mansion. The article presents *Airwolf* as a reminder of the era’s action television and its memorable machines.
- *Airwolf* is free to stream on The Roku Channel.
- The series premiered on CBS in 1984.
- Its fictional supersonic helicopter became its defining star.
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Airwolf is an American action television series that began in 1984. It followed Stringfellow Hawke, a skilled test pilot, and Dominic Santini, his older mentor, as they flew dangerous missions for a secret intelligence organisation.
The aircraft at the centre of the show was based on a real Bell 222 helicopter, but was given fictional high-speed capabilities and weapons. Hawke also had a personal reason for taking on missions: he hoped to find his brother, who had gone missing during the Vietnam War.
The series was part of 1980s television’s interest in action stories built around distinctive vehicles and daring stunts. Its helicopter and aerial sequences became a large part of its appeal.