Gold Wing Gold Wing was the call sign of a member of Gold Squadron , a Rebel Alliance starfighter squadron , during the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY . Gold Wing was one of many pilots who followed Gold Leader Lando Calrissian , flying the light freighter " Millennium Falcon " , into the superstructure of the incomplete second Death Star near the climax of the battle . The pilot remained with Calrissian and Red Leader Wedge Antilles as they approached the battlestation ' s reactor core , but Gold Wing was shot down by an Imperial TIE fighter before they could reach their target . Biography . Though the term " Gold Wing " could refer to the Rebel Alliance ' s Gold Squadron , the designation was also the call sign of an individual pilot who served with the squadron . In 4 ABY , after learning that the Galactic Empire was constructing a second Death Star in the Endor system , the Rebel Alliance decided to launch an attack on the incomplete battlestation . A commando team was dispatched to the Forest Moon of Endor to destroy the shield generator protecting the Death Star ; with the deflector shield out of the way , the Alliance Fleet , under the command of Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar , could arrive in - system to destroy the station . However , the Alliance had fallen into a trap orchestrated by Emperor Palpatine ; when the Alliance Fleet arrived , they were trapped between an Imperial fleet and a shielded and operational Death Star . As the battle raged between the opposing armadas , the strike team succeeded in destroying the shield generator , leaving the Death Star vulnerable to attack . General Lando Calrissian , flying the freighter " Millennium Falcon " as Gold Leader , used the opportunity to lead several Rebel starfighters — including Gold Wing — into the battlestation ' s superstructure to destroy the Death Star ' s main reactor . Racing through the battlestation ' s interior , the Rebels contended with numerous obstacles and pursuing Imperial TIE fighters . Several Alliance starfighters broke off and doubled back to the Death Star ' s surface , luring away some of the TIE fighters and leaving Calrissian , Red Leader Wedge Antilles , and Gold Wing to destroy the reactor . Gold Wing fell in behind the other two as the trio of ships homed in on their target , but this move left the pilot vulnerable — Gold Wing was shot down by one of the remaining Imperials . Calrissian and Antilles managed to take out the main reactor , creating a chain reaction that destroyed the Death Star . Personality and traits . A Rebel pilot , Gold Wing served under General Lando Calrissian at the Battle of Endor . The pilot followed Calrissian and Wedge Antilles into the second Death Star , and was skilled enough to navigate through the hazardous superstructure , only to be shot down by an Imperial TIE fighter before reaching the main reactor . Behind the scenes . The unidentified pilot known only as " Gold Wing " briefly appeared in the 1983 of . Gold Wing is merely a background character in the novel , lacking any dialogue . Unlike the other pilots bearing a " Wing " designation in the novel , Gold Wing has not been mentioned in any source , nor has the pilot ' s gender been established .