Blue Wing
The individual with the call sign Blue Wing functioned as the second-in-command to Blue Leader Merrick Simms, within Blue Squadron of the Rebel Alliance. This pilot of a starfighter participated with the squadron during the Battle of Endor, coordinating several Rebel groups and engaging in combat with Imperial forces situated above the Forest Moon of Endor. Following Merrick Simms''s death, Blue Wing, along with Blue Squad, took part in the assault led by General Lando Calrissian against the second Death Star. As per Calrissian's instructions, Blue Squad diverted from their attack run to draw away some of the TIE fighters belonging to the Imperials while Calrissian and others successfully destroyed the Death Star's reactor core.
Biography
Although the term "Blue Wing" could be used to describe the Rebel Alliance's Blue Squadron, it also served as the call sign for a specific pilot within the squadron, who held the position of second-in-command to Blue Leader Merrick Simms. The fighter pilot known as Blue Wing had the responsibility of directing multiple combat groups.
In the year 4 ABY, the Rebel Alliance discovered that the Galactic Empire was in the process of constructing a second Death Star located in the Endor system. Furthermore, they learned that the battle station was being protected by a deflector shield projected from the Forest Moon of Endor. Consequently, a commando team was sent to eliminate the shield generator before the main body of the Alliance Fleet, under the command of Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar, arrived in the system with the intention of destroying the Death Star. Little did the Alliance know, they were walking into a trap set by Emperor Palpatine. Upon the fleet's arrival, they discovered that the shield was active and an Imperial fleet was blocking their retreat. The opposing fleets engaged in battle while the strike team struggled to complete their mission on Endor. As the space battle unfolded, Commander Simms was killed following a Rebel attack on the Imperial main communications ship. Blue Squad, a part of Blue Wing's battle groups, made effective use of A-wing fighters to fight and defeat the Imperial Fleet during the battle. Eventually, the strike team succeeded in destroying the shield generator, leaving the Death Star vulnerable to Rebel attack. General Lando Calrissian, piloting the freighter Millennium Falcon as Gold Leader, led multiple starfighter squadrons, including Blue Squad under Blue Wing, in an attack on the Death Star.
Numerous Rebel starfighters, followed closely by Imperial TIE fighters, flew low over the Death Star's surface, searching for an entry point into its structure to locate and destroy the station's reactor core. To provide assistance to his allies, Calrissian instructed Blue Wing to take Blue Squad and draw away the pursuing TIEs. Blue Wing acknowledged the order as Calrissian and the remaining fighters entered the Death Star. The Rebels were successful in their mission, destroying the battlestation's reactor core, which in turn destroyed the Death Star itself, resulting in a significant victory for the Alliance.
Behind the scenes
Blue Wing made a brief appearance, with one line of dialogue, in the 1983 novelization of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Blue Wing's existence is only within the novel, because the scene does not appear in the film. The pilot was later included in all three editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, as well as the Star Wars Encyclopedia.
For the Star Wars Encyclopedia and the three A Guide to the Star Wars Universe entries about Blue Wing, the information source code listed is "RJ" (an abbreviation for Return of the Jedi), suggesting that Blue Wing is in the film. It should be noted that the "RJN" code exists for entries taken from the film's novelization.