Airwolf crashed.
Blue Thunder didn't.
Blue Thunder wins by default.
Airwolf
The Airwolf helicopter was actually a modified Bell 222 painted black (serial number 47085, registration number N3176S). After the show was cancelled the modifications were removed. The aircraft was repainted and eventually sold to the German firm, Hubschrauber-Sonder-Dienst and given the German registration number D-HHSD. Airwolf, as a plain Bell 222 air ambulance, crashed in a thunderstorm on 9 June 1991, killing her three passengers.
Blue Thunder
The star helicopter of the movie was a modified French Aerospatiale SA.341G Gazelle helicopter. This model was developed as a light observation helicopter for European defence forces. It features an advanced three-blade main rotor system, a shrouded tail rotor system built into the tail itself, and high visibility cabin windows.
The Gazelle cruises at 146 knots and is considered quite fast considering it is only powered by a single gas turbine engine and seats as many as a Jetranger. Another unique feature of this helicopter is that the shrouded tail rotor is made up of a dozen or so small fan blades that spin at very high RPM. This results in a harmonic effect with the main rotor that produces a loud, whiney sound, commonly known as "shrieking".
The Blue Thunder version had modifications that included an entirely new retrofitted cabin canopy. This change removed the soft, round cabin and replaced it with an agressive, insect-like attack helicopter canopy. This was perhaps one of the most important styling points to make the machine appear menacing. The designers also added the mockup moving minigun that fired water and fitted dummy accessories to the sides of the aircraft.
There were also a series of minor cosmetic changes here and there. Although the result looked fantastic and very believable, and even regaining FAA airworthyness, these all added weight and the resulting impact on the aircraft's performance led to clever camera filming techniques being employed to make it look fast.
"Just thought you might like to see this shot I took of apparently all that remains of the two Blue Thunder helicopters--it's residing in pretty poor shape on the backlot tour of MGM studios in Florida. It really is in poor state but the magic is still there. The annoying thing is you make the tour on a train and don't stop--so you have to take pictures on the move."
www.gregdonner.org/blue_thunder/bluethunder.avi"Blue Thunder vs. Airwolf" video clip in Video for Windows format