Wingman, GuyInBack.

Wingman, Guy in Back.

What's the difference? If it's that a wingman is a combat role while GIB is support, would that make the former a subtrope?

Currently no link from GIB to Wingman.

Wingman is in another plane, Guy in Back is in the same plane, from the looks of it.

Wing Man is fighter plane specific, Guy in Back isn't.

A Wingman is a military aircraft's "buddy" - another aircraft that will fly in formation to assist them, and vice-versa. If you have enough, they form a flight, and so on.

The "Guy In Back" is usually the RIO (Radar Intercept Officer) or WSO (Weapons System Officer). Only found in larger aircraft, they assist the pilot with engaging targets.

edited 2nd Oct '10 9:03:36 AM by Flanker66

Deboss, pretty sure that Guy in Back IS Fighter Plane specific.

He or she may be called the Radar Intercept Officer ("Rio"), the Tail Gunner, the Navigator or the Weapons Systems Officer ("Whizzo"). However, they all do the same job, acting as a Mission Control in the back seat (or sometimes at the right hand side of) of the Ace Pilot's own fighter or attack aircraft.

Emphasis mine. That said, what exactly is the problem?

^Not exactly. Aircraft such as the Mi-25 Hind have a WSO (though he sits in the front seat). It would be inaccurate to say only fighters have a "guy in back".

Whether or not Guy in Back is a good title, the two seem pretty distinct from one another. The Wingman is someone in a separate aircraft who follows the first one, giving cover and fire support. The Guy in Back is a second person crewing the same aircraft, specifically, the person who isn't flying.

Ace Pilot's own fighter or attack aircraft.

It's broader than just fighters.

Right, sorry, I'm an idiot. Of course Wingman is a separate plane.

While I should have known that anyway, it's not made very clear from the description so I'll edit it to make that a bit clearer.

I've added them to both the Canonical and Laconical Lists Of Subtle Trope Distinctions. Someone more familiar with aviation may want to check the canonical version to make sure I explained Guy in Back correctly.

Ah, I thought you meant "not fighter plane specific" as in it could be a tank or something. Me being an idiot, fighter plane = attack aircraft.

Tweaked GIB a bit, but yeah that was fine, Mad.

I've seen once or twice where the focus character on a multi-person aircraft crew wasn't the pilot or co-pilot, hence the tweak.

edited 3rd Oct '10 3:45:16 PM by Nohbody

Good overall, if a little dry. But that can be tweaked with wiki magic.

Attack aircraft is broader than fighter.

^ And "aircraft" is broader than both.

Although bombers are used to make attacks, they don't really count as "attack aircraft".