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Cell Leader: John "Hannibal" Smith
Members: B.A. "Bad Attitude" Baracus, H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock, Templeton "Faceman" Peck, Stringfellow Hawke
Reserve Members: Amy Allen, Tawnia Baker, Caitlin O'Shannessy, Dominic Santini
Background:
In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. They promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Still wanted by the government, they survived for years as soldiers of fortune.
When people had a problem, and no one else could help, and if they could find them, they might hire the A-Team.
| For decades the members of the A-Team have embodied the core philosophies of SHAFT in their attitude and their actions: Self-sufficiently preserving their freedom and rugged individualism while helping those in need, all the while evading the clutches of the U.S. government. |
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It was only natural that they would eventually cross paths
with Stringfellow Hawke, a fellow Viet Nam veteran and champion of the
downtrodden.
Hawke's story is unique. His background is best summed up by a SHIELD intelligence file from 1984, recently acquired by agents of SHAFT: SHIELD File A56-7W Classified: Top Secret Subject: AIRWOLF |
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A Mach 1+ attack helicopter, sought by
governments both friendly and foreign, Airwolf has been been hidden by its
test pilot Stringfellow Hawke somewhere in the Western United States, to
be returned to the government only if his brother St. John, an MIA in Viet
Nam, can be found.
Michael Coldsmith-Briggs III, code-named Archangel, deputy director of the Firm -- the intelligence agency that developed Airwolf -- is believed to be covertly providing logistical support to Hawke in exchange for Hawke's flying Airwolf on missions of national interest. |
| Hawke is 34, reclusive, sensitive, a loner, known to associate only with his friend and mentor, Dominic Santini, whose air service is the cover for their government work. Together, Hawke and Santini fly Airwolf at speeds rivaling the fastest jets. Backed by unmatched firepower, Airwolf is a weapon too dangerous to be left in unenlightened hands. |
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So it was that String continued to
fly missions for the Firm.... until his fortuitous meeting with the A-Team.
D.G. Bogard, an unscrupulous high-ranking government agent, hired the A-Team to locate and retrieve Airwolf for him. Although Murdock successfully stole the helicopter from its hidden lair in the desert, the team decided against turning it over to Bogard once they discovered String's motives. Focusing their resources on solving String's problem instead, they quickly ascertained the location of St. John's POW camp in Viet Nam. After devising an outlandish plan to free the captives there, Hannibal, B.A., Murdock, and Face then accompanied String to Viet Nam to rescue his brother. After embarrassing both the Vietnamese and U.S. governments, they safely returned St. John and the other POWs to America. Since the Firm no longer had anything to offer String, he decided to stop taking orders from a Nick Fury wannabe and joined the A-Team. Archangel protested Hawke's continued use of Airwolf, but there was nothing to be done... |
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| The A-Team had years of experience staying one step ahead of
the government, and easily prevented the Firm from ever laying its hands
on the helicopter again.
Having exhausted all of the job possibilities in the L.A. underground, the team switched their base of operations to Santini Air. Dominic Santini was happy to provide a cover for the A-Team's activities, and enjoyed swapping war stories with Hannibal Smith between jobs. When Dom finally lapsed into senility, String checked him into the V.A. hospital, where he became Murdock's roommate. The A-Team would break both of them out the hospital for missions that required a lot of air support. |
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Initially String's friend and fellow Airwolf pilot Caitlin O'Shannessy joined the team as well, but like previous female sidekicks Amy Allen and Tawnia Baker, her membership was short-lived. Something about the mixture of excessive testosterone and that mysterious element "the Jazz" seems to make this particular fraternity unappealing to women in the long run. |
| In the past couple of decades, the expanded A-Team has come
to the aid of a lot of people who would have otherwise fallen through the
cracks... people in need that the System is unable, or unwilling, to help.
"I've learned a lot since joining the A-Team," says Stringfellow Hawke. "For example, not every problem calls for chain guns and Hellfire missiles. Some situations can be resolved by simply firing M-16s over people's heads." Indeed, a lot has been accomplished through teamwork. For one thing, access to Airwolf technology and armament has allowed B.A. to design and build an entirely new A-Team van. |
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Gone are the days when the team had to scrounge up scrap metal to weld onto vehicles for armor plating, or create makeshift weapons from farm implements or junkyard salvage. The new van is a veritable rolling fortress, tricked out with enough firepower and high-tech equipment to ensure that the A-Team is never backed into a corner during a mission again.
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B.A. inspects his handiwork. |
Stringfellow Hawke atop the new A-Team van. |
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