Blue Thunder - Sophisticated, high-tech police helicopter designed by the military used for urban surveillance/criminal pursuit on the police aviation drama BLUE THUNDER/ABC/1984. Blue Thunder was a flying "Big Brother" with such as capabilities as electronically eavesdropping from a height of 2 miles; whisper modes to quiet its rotor blades and sail silently through the skies; infrared night vision; bullet proof armor plating; heat thermal/radar devises to see through walls; machine guns; and heat seeking missiles. Supervised by a team from the Justice Department, its crew included pilot Frank Chaney (James Farentino); electronic whiz, Clinton "Jafo" Wonderlove (Dana Carvey) and ground crew members Lyman "Bubba" Kelsey (Bubba Smith) and Richard "Ski" Butowski (Dick Butkus) who monitored Blue Thunder's progress via a mobile van. In the 1983 movie Blue Thunder on which the series is loosely based, Roy Scheider starred as a concerned police helicopter pilot who destroyed an experimental helicopter Blue Thunder (placed in the path of freight train) when he feared its advanced weaponry and snooping capabilities would support politicians with totalitarian schemes. 

Blue Thunder surveys the city for signs of trouble

             

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