Stringfellow Hawke
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Stringfellow Hawke (portrayed by American actor Jan-Michael Vincent) is a fictional character on the American action-adventure television series Airwolf (1984-1987). During the series' first three seasons, Hawke is its central character. A freelance agent of a division of the CIA known as the Firm (or F.I.R.M.), Hawke serves as pilot and custodian of the prototype supersonic attack helicopter for which the show is named.
Born in 1950, Vietnam War veteran Stringfellow Hawke lives in seclusion with his Bluetick Coonhound, Tet, at a log cabin by a California lake. When Hawke was twelve, he and his parents were in a boating accident on the lake. He was rescued by his brother Saint John, but their parents drowned. Beginning with this incident, Hawke grows to believe that anyone he loves is destined to die tragically, a belief that subsequent events only serve to reinforce. The orphaned Hawke brothers are raised by Dominic Santini (Ernest Borgnine), a friend and fellow military aviator of their father's. Upon reaching adulthood, both Saint John and Stringfellow enlist in the U.S. Army and are dispatched to the front lines of the Vietnam War. Both Hawke brothers prove their valor and piloting skills during the conflict. In 1969, tragedy occurs again when Saint John is separated from his brother and the rest of their unit during a mission. Saint John is listed as M.I.A. in Southeast Asia, causing Stringfellow to further withdraw from society.
Hawke returns from the war and earns a Master's degree in mechanical engineering. He lives a solitary life in the mountains and uses his cabin’s dock as a helicopter landing pad. He serenades eagles with Prokofiev on his Stradivarius cello, and is an avid fisherman. Hawke has a first-rate art collection, which his grandfather collected for his grandmother. He works with Dominic Santini, his adopted father and mentor (and now also his employer) and the owner of Santini Air (a helicopter service for hire).
Hawke also works for Michael Coldsmith Briggs III (known as "Archangel"), deputy project director for the Firm. As chief test pilot for Airwolf, Hawke is recruited by Archangel as the logical--indeed, the only--candidate to retrieve the helicopter after its designer and builder, Charles Henry Moffett, absconds with it to Libya. Hawke is further convinced to accept the mission by Archangel's assistant Gabrielle Ademaur (Belinda Bauer), with whom Hawke ultimately becomes romantically involved. Hawke accepts the mission on the condition that the Firm hand over classified information on the whereabouts of his missing brother. Thus, Hawke and Santini run the mission to take back Airwolf, and they discover that Moffet has used it to destroy American targets for the Libyans.
Gabrielle goes undercover to thwart Moffet's nefarious plans, but she is discovered and captured by Moffet, then tortured and left to die in the desert. At the same time, Hawke and Santini have stolen Airwolf from its compound. Hawke finds Gabrielle, only to have her die in his arms. Hawke hunts Moffett across the desert, and finally kills the fiendish engineer with his own invention. With Airwolf secured, Hawke fulfills his part of the deal with the Firm, but Archangel is not forthcoming with information about Saint John. Unsatisfied, Hawke hides Airwolf in a desert cave and becomes custodian of the aircraft, vowing not to hand it over until the Firm finds his brother. Over the next two and a half years, Hawke pilots Airwolf on a number of national security missions at Archangel's request. Hawke also occasionally pilots Airwolf to save or protect endangered innocents he encounters, to help friends in peril, or to correct injustices. In these adventures, Hawke is commonly supported by Santini, former Texas Highway Patrol officer Caitlin O'Shaunnessy (Jean Bruce Scott), and occasionally, Archangel himself.
In the first episode of Airwolf 's fourth and final season, Stringfellow is critically injured when a bomb planted in one of Dominic Santini's helicopters explodes, killing Santini. Although delirious and near death, Hawke is able to reveal Airwolf's location to Santini's niece, Jo. Jo Santini (Michele Scarabelli) and Firm agents Jason Locke and Mike Rivers (Geraint Wyn Davies) use Airwolf to liberate Saint John Hawke (Barry Van Dyke) from imprisonment in Cambodia. Saint John and Stringfellow reunite in the United States, and Saint John subsequently replaces his wounded brother as the primary pilot of Airwolf (and as the central character of the Airwolf television series).
