Detonics .45 Combat Master (prop) Hawkes Gun

One of string-fellow hawkes hand guns used in the airwolf tv series was the Detonics .45 Combat Master.

The Detonics Combat Master was the first really small and compact 1911-pattern pistol to be produced in significant numbers.

Law enforcement fell in love with it immediately due to its diminutive size and quality. It received "star quality" when Don Johnson as Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice was seen carrying one in a leg holster in the show.

Far more important than the media exposure was the revolutionary reliability work done inside the pistol.

The Detonics introduced the bulged barrel end so that the pistol did not require a bushing.

It also incorporated double and triple recoil springs. It was the first production 1911-pattern which was throated and ramped for hollowpoints.

The original Detonics pistol, a modified and much smaller version of the Colt Model 1911, made its initial appearance in 1977. Billed as the world’s smallest single-action autoloader chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge, the Detonics was an instant hit with law enforcement officers.

Special Thanks To http://www.modelguns.co.uk For the Information   
(website no longer online)
 

Bell Helicopter Magazine - Rotorbreeze Vol 52. No. 2 (2003)

This is just the Airwolf section (and companying front cover) If you wish to read the full magazine its on facebook as a PDF here In the Bell 222 Fan-Club Group.

Q&A with Andrew Probert (2002)

Article by Haakon Kjole

Andrew Probert is mostly known as the guy who designed the Star Trek starship: Enterprise (twice). He still finds himself involved in the Star Trek universe from time to time.

But Andrew has worked on many other projects during his 10 years in Hollywood, including the design of Airwolf! He designed the extra airframe on top of the stock Bell 222, and its weapon system!

To mention some of his other work, we should include Streethawk, Battlestar Galactica, Back to the Future, Splashdance, Disney cartoons, ST: TNG, just to name a few...




1. How did you learn your skill ? When did you get contacted by the Airwolf-crew, and was it because you knew Don Bellisario from Battlestar Galactica ?

I studied industrial design at the Art centre College of Design in Pasadena, Calif. Everything I design is approached as a design problem to be solved as I learned in school. The actual start-date is a little vague after all these years but I think I was put into Airwolf from Universal´s art department, with which I stayed in contact. I only was in contact with Glen Larson, (not Don) when working on B.G. and that was only during the pilot show.

2. Can you tell me about some other "series/movies" you have worked for, and are you still working in Hollywood ?
First of all,...no I´m not working in Hollywood...I´ve escaped. Not from pictures, just Hollywood. I´m always available for design work on a non-union project, especially if it´s in the San Francisco bay area. The other "series/movies" are too many to mention here, but the work I did on them was pretty much the same. That is, usually storyboards, (the illustrator´s stable) pre-production illustrations, and as much design work as I could get away with.

3. Can you sort of describe what you do when you get a job like designing various parts on Airwolf ? How do you start, and do you use computers as well as hand-drawings ?

Hand drawings are always going to be the heart of the designer. Computers are a handy tool when you need to verify it in 3D or maybe modify something, but you must touch your first thoughts.

When I was asked to provide concepts for Airwolf, (and this methodology applies to all projects) I first needed to know just what it was and what it was expected to do. It was a C.I.A. weapon, and its armament needed to be concealed until needed. It was a "Wolf" in sheeps clothing.....which led to my design of its logo. I also designed the show´s title-logo. Anyway, with the chopper needing jet engines, surveillance equipment and a verity of shooting-things, I set about (with my limited understanding of aerodynamics) adding the components onto and into the Bell 222 itself. The studio found a certified shop to make and add the final components to the helicopter. (Unlike another earlier dark blue movie-helicopter) The really nice moment came when David Jones (the primary pilot) jumped out of the Airwolf after its maiden flight, and ran up to Beliisario screaming:, (to be heard over the chopper) "It flies better now than before!" I guess I did something right.

4. Did you contribute in other ways as well on the Airwolf-show ?

Well, besides the graphics mentioned earlier, I designed the flight suits, helmets, the layout of Airwolf´s interior rear compartment, various little things for the Archangel character, and produced some pre-production sketches and a ton of storyboards. I even ended up designing the shooting-crew´s jackets...my first real piece of clothing.

5. Do you have any favourite design ? I would think that the Enterprise from Star Trek is what you are most proud of ?

I have many favourite designs. Most of them, in film, come from the minds of Ron Cobb, Ralph McQuarrie, or Syd Mead. Syd and his real-life design creations are still my biggest inspirations. I enjoy the design work that is in every Braun product, and I still love the Lear jet. My own stuff?.....well, yes, I´m very proud of my "D" Enterprise and I like my long-range shuttle from: ST: tmp too. I´m hoping my best work is yet to be done.

6. On your Airwolf-drawing, we see two rockets on the side of the ADF-pod. Any particular reason for why these were cancelled ? To much of a job to bolt them on, or was it because Airwolf maybe looked "sleeker" without them ?

Those rocket-launchers were designed to hinge out into that firing position. We couldn't actually cut into the body of the helicopter (for structural reasons, everything was bolted on) and the art director made the call to not incorporate them into the miniature, which might indicate that they didn't want to (or couldn't) afford them for the full-size version. The moving items such as the guns and ADF pod were seen moving only on the miniature, then we would cut to the real chopper with the systems already there (or not).

This concluded the Q&A with Andrew Probert

This was the Back Ground Image (on the interview page)

EDITED:
We changed the  222B  into 222 (because it was not a B) and we fixed some typos..

Universal PlayBack Volume One DVD (2001) R2

Volume One R2 DVD Box Front

Around 2001, Universal Studios started releasing really old Tv Shows on DVD under the branding of Universal Playback, but none of the episodes were in any form of real organised running order.


Older shows often suffered from music re-licensing issues and age certification issues. This in turn clearly prevented them marketing a whole season (for kids) due to age ratings on some episodes and also made it not a very tangible investment to re-license assets and release it for adults due to its apparent limited fan base.


So they released this single region 2 dvd with three episodes on, making airwolf finally land on UK shop shelves such as woolworths and HMV as a DVD.


Volume One Features an Animated Menu and 3 Episodes
Sweet Britches / The Truth About Holly / Firestorm
      all three taken from Season Two.





Although we now refer to this as Volume ONE (because they released a vol 2,3,and 4)
You'll notice Volume One doesn't actually state anything about a Volume Number.

Image Features the Four Individual Releases

 
Chances are they had no plans to release any other episodes and this first Airwolf retail dvd in 2001 would have been the only Airwolf release to accompany the A-Team disk and a few others shows Playback released randomly selected episodes from.

The chosen episodes, Sweet Britches / The Truth About Holly / Firestorm
are not that spread out. In season context the running order would be

2x01 - Sweet Britches
2x02 - Firestorm
2x03 - Moffetts Ghost
2x04 - The Truth About Holly

You will however find Moffets Ghost on Volume 3 which is still only a CERT PG release. It probably later got approved after some department bickering that its a good episode to prompt consumers to buy vol 3 and they maybe got them re-reviewed to lower the episodes age certifications. Or they sadly held it back to pad out a later release knowing its a wanted episode.

We would assume that back in 1984, moffets ghost was at the very least a CERT 12 due to the nightmare flash back scene and we would guess that is why it wasn't on volume one. Volume 3 actually has 3 episodes that i would assume are at the very least CERT 12 due to key scenes, in-fact I would personally assume that Severance Pay could even have been a CERT 15 age rating.
I will no doubt detail why i assume all this CERT stuff if I do a blog post for Volume Three.

That said i am surprised Firestorm and  The Truth About Holly got a PG certification.

So volume one came with the 3 episodes with an animated menu and a single A5 inlay card featuring the episode information.

"dvd menu images to be added"

ASIN: B00005ABU8
UPC: 044007817728

The Four 4 Individual volumes for the Airwolf Series - Universal Playback 2002 Relase

After the 2001 release they were later re-issued and more copies of the four dvd's got produced in 2005.

Janes Advanced Tatical Fighters (MS-DOS-Win9x) Game Airwolf MOD

This is a Windows 95 Game
(that essentially runs in MS-DOS Mode)

Do NOT try to install this Directly Onto a system with windows XP & upward, otherwise every time you turn on the system it may simply just boot into the game only.
(it can often modify your autoexec.bat)

BUT you can still play this TODAY on Modern Computers using DosBox or other Emulator, so read along and enjoy the post..

TheWraith517 began his computer days with a 486SX B/W Toshiba LapTop, with a 120mb HarDisk, hand wired cd rom into the printer port.. So he is the man to lead us through this guide into history and specifics.  Mod Download HERE

Hi ben, here goes some history for the blog and the fans..
First off you can run this game on a newer computer using DosBox or a similar Ms Dos Emulator, OR you can pick up a really cheep and very old computer. (windows is irrelevant, as its an ms dos game)  One of the main problems found with this game is the games actual Copywrite Protection (same problem operation flashpoint encountered and why bohemia interactive got permission from codemasters to remove the need for the CD within the official 1.96 update) You needed the correct chipset drivers and mainboard drivers for the game to load correctly. Many systems would keep saying insert cd, even though the game was an original, VIA chipset drivers where common cause for this problem. So a ripped version of the ISO and DosBox is seriosly the simplest way to go, and i can confirm this because not only do i own an Original version of this in the box, but i also own systems that have issues with it. And even though i own the original, i still had to use a cracked version...

Pc wise (with original disk) you only really need MS-DOS running on anything from a 486DX, AMD K6 up to a Duron 800 or Pentium 1,2,3. As it runs in dos mode you dont really need windows installed to play it, though it would mean you would probably have to add your mouse driver to the autoexec.bat your self and add the games path after the set temp folder path so you can just type the games name, rather than having to type CD/ChangeDir into the games directory.

The Windows based AutoPlay menu on the CD

In the Windows 9x environment (9x refers to Windows 95, 98 98SE, Millennium) You get a standard AutoPlay menu on the CD.

From here you can install the game just like most software obtained on cd or dvd.

The dos mode also had an installation menu for none windows systems.

The Dos Based Install Menu

Installing under dos gives extra options because in windows you can use a codec to play WAV files, but in dos, some sound cards couldn't handle wav files. So you could chose to install it with MIDI music (midi being digital music that uses instruments built into the sound card)

Which means you didn't need windows support or sound drivers for the specific game, or soundblaster compatible as boxes used to say.

AKA Support for Cheep Hardware

MS-DOS Commands To Navigate And To Run ATF

After install, you would run it from a dos box like this (to make sure the game is at least working) before you try to modify it. One step at a time after all right lol

Not sure how to BAT it off the top of my head, its been a while.

Original Game Menu Before Modification

If the game runs and you get this screen then you can essentially exit the game and begin to mod the game using the Airwolf for ATF mod.

The game its self is rubbish tbh, but that's the game, not the mod. The game comes from a time of ms dos, most games where rubbish.  But to this day (jan 2015) this is still the most comprehensive airwolf mod for a game. GUi, Addons, Campaigns. It Becomes An Airwolf Game.. Literally & Easily..

The Game Once It's Been Modified

The GUi (for its time) was really stunning and had a lot of work put into it, but the game seams very dated now, as does the game play.

I managed to pick 1 up from a church sale for £5 back in 2012. I figured it's boxed, had the full size guide book, the cards, even the registration card and it was a good cause the sale was for so i figured sod it lol, will buy that, and that is the only reason their are screen shots of this mod around today, how sad is that?.

Airwolf Information Screen

Aircraft reference gives 6 pages of information & is a nice little extra on the game menu. For its time, most people had no images of airwolf.. not many could afford a video machine. for many of us.. Airwolf came.. and went.. then it was gone.. While Knight Rider and The A-Team got re-run after re-run, Airwolf and Street Hawk suffered badly. So this game & it's GUi really where impressive, compare it to the Airwolf NES game lol.

Character Bio Screens

Also 7 pages on info with the character screens with info on the clipboard,

Extra pictures along with the information, this not only made this thing a game, but also a kinda early day Fact File. I guess your all starting to see why i paid the £5, why i bent over backwards to get a fixed version that would negate the need for the cd i had yet wouldn't work.. This is still a work of art, even by today's standards. 

Dominic Santini Bio Screen

Caitlin O'Shannesey Bio Screen

A Choice Of Campaigns

The beauty of Campaigns is you get multiple missions, so you rank up with scores while progressing through the game. 

So this didn't just have a few missions. It had 2 campaigns to play and again.. more lovely pictures of our favourite helicopter..

Really Cool..

Single Mission Selection

You could also choose a single mission and replay them from within the Fly Single Mission menu.

Im still suprised just how bad the game was, yet how amazing the GUi was for it.

Though what shocks me more is.. all the work put into this, yet their is NOTHING on line about it besides here and within the Airwolf Gaming Universe on facebook

Mission Brief Game Menu

The first mission is a basic test flight mission
(free roam to explore) and gives you a feel of the games overhaul graphics and control functions. Sadly this is where it starts to fall apart with today's gaming expectations. But this is down to MS-DOS limitations on graphics.

 AIRWOLF & ATF.Lib V1.1.5
June 25, 1997
Created by Chris Schwan

MY INITIAL EXPERIMENTS

1st)
I tried Virtual PC 2007 (on windows xp)
Running a Virtual Installed Windows 95 OSR II from 1997
It complained about CD Rom Drivers in dos mode
to fix that you would have to add the load mscdex or what ever the command is
to load the CD Rom driver into the atf.bat file
(i couldn't be bothered going and sending my brain back in time) LOL

so

2nd)
I tried Dosbox, but it complained that it couldn't find the CD
(which is silly as i own the original game)
so i downloaded a RIP of it and unpacked it to the same location as the install should be
C:\Janes\ATF
then loaded up dosbox (google Dosbox MS-Dos Emulator to find it)
in the dosbox window i typed this
(note c is typed twice here and NOTE the space ;)


Type
mount c c:\janes\atf (and press enter)

then type C: (and press enter)

then type ATF (and press enter) and the game loads

Q) how to move the mouse Back OUT of the dosbox window?
A) Hold CTRL and Press F10 :)

Ingame Graphics on the runway

The 3 overlays are optional screens you can turn on and off..

After Mission Debrief

The game it's self is not to bad (compared to the NES game) but compared to the likes of OFP and MS SIM, i think this games had its day. But i am happy to writing this and sharing my memories of it... As I know it'll keep this information out their for the fans.

Change Weapon and Ammo Configurations

So i shall round off this post with other random screen shots i took while documenting this game for the facebook Airwolf Gaming Universe group.

Hope you enjoyed the review and the images from yesteryear.

If you played this game, comment and share your memories of it. If your selling a copy of it on eBay, post the link in the comments here.

CD Icon As Seen In Windows 95 Explorer

When Running The Game Within The Windows 95 Environment

Restart The Computer In MS-DOS Mode

A Chance To Look At Were Your Going Before The Mission Loads

Choose Hard Disk

Choose Folder

Game Installing

Box Inlay

Box Inlay

Box Back

The Following Images are from an E.A Games Brochure that's included with the Paramount Pictures
Official Top Gun Game and Joystick Set From 1996.

Janes ATF: Advanced Tactical Fighters

Janes ATF: U.S.Navy Fighters

Janes ATF: NATO Fighters

Janes ATF: AH-64D Longbow