Airwolf is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 television series that ran from 1984 until 1987. The program centers on a high-tech military helicopter

Airwolf (helicopter)

Airwolf is the helicopter from the 1980s American television series of the same name. The aircraft itself was a modified Bell 222 twin-engined light helicopter built by Bell Helicopter and owned by JetCopters Inc.-Bell 222:...

, code named Airwolf, and its crew as they undertake various missions, many involving espionage

Espionage

Espionage or spying involves an individual obtaining information that is considered secret or confidential without the permission of the holder of the information. Espionage is inherently clandestine, lest the legitimate holder of the information change plans or take other countermeasures once it...

, with a Cold War

Cold War

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...

 theme.

The show was created by Donald Bellisario

Donald Bellisario

Donald Paul Bellisario is an American television producer and screenwriter who created and sometimes wrote episodes for the TV series Magnum, P.I., Airwolf, Quantum Leap, JAG, and NCIS...

. The first three seasons star Jan-Michael Vincent

Jan-Michael Vincent

Jan-Michael Vincent is an American actor best known for his role as helicopter pilot Stringfellow Hawke on the 1980s U.S. television series Airwolf .-Early life:...

, Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine

Ernest Borgnine is an American actor of television and film. His career has spanned more than six decades. He was an unconventional lead in many films of the 1950s, including his Academy Award-winning turn in the 1955 film Marty...

, Alex Cord

Alex Cord

Alex Cord is an American actor who is perhaps best known for portraying the role of Archangel on the television series Airwolf.-Biography:...

, and (from the second season onwards) Jean Bruce Scott

Jean Bruce Scott

Jean Bruce Scott is an American television actress, best known for her role as former Texas Highway Patrol helicopter pilot "Caitlin O'Shannessy" in the 1984-1986 CBS action thriller drama television series Airwolf, starring Jan-Michael Vincent, Ernest Borgnine, and Alex Cord...

. After the original series was cancelled, a fourth season, with an entirely new cast and on a much smaller budget, was filmed in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 for the USA Network

USA Network

USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

.

The show's musical score, which was originally orchestral-based and shifted to more synthesizer-orientated arrangements early in the second season, was composed and conducted mainly by Sylvester Levay

Sylvester Levay

Sylvester Levay is a Hungarian composer. He was born 16 May 1945 in Subotica , in the North Bačka District of Vojvodina, Yugoslavia ; his name is pronounced in English similarly to "lave-ah-ee."...

.