Launchpad McQuack

Launchpad McQuack is a character and a pilot hero from Disney's 1987 television series DuckTales and its 1991 spin-off Darkwing Duck. He works for Scrooge McDuck as the pilot, and later on became Darkwing Duck's sidekick. He is a scoutmaster of Junior Woodchucks with Huey, Dewey and Louie and Doofus Drake. He is voiced by Terry McGovern.

Personality
Launchpad has a kind nature to himself, but when his friends are threatened or in trouble, he can and will stand up for himself and those close to him. At times, he can be clumsy, but usually, his clumsiness pays off and enables him to (inadvertently) save the day.

DuckTales
Launchpad's first appearance was in the Treasure of the Golden Suns pilot movie (Serialized episode: Three Ducks of the Condor), where he is hired by Gyro Gearloose and Scrooge McDuck to fly the latter to the Land of the Golden Suns in Gyro's newest helicopter, the Condor. Since then, he has made recurring appearances in several episodes in the series, mainly when Scrooge needed a pilot to fly him somewhere and could not look anywhere else, as Launchpad has worked for Scrooge's favorite price—next to nothing.

Launchpad is known to be best friends with a youngster named Doofus Drake, a roly-poly duckling who tags along with him on many adventures and has been considered by Launchpad to be his sidekick. Doofus looks up to Launchpad like a big brother and considers him a great pilot and a real hero.

According to the episode Launchpad's First Crash, Launchpad built his first plane, The Sun Chaser, by himself, and he was hired by Scrooge McDuck as a youngster to fly to the Thick-of-It Rain Forest to help him locate the Lost City of Diamonds. At that point, Launchpad had a rate: 10 cents per mile, but he lowered it to a penny per mile to suit Scrooge. Since that adventure, Launchpad and Scrooge became an inseparable team.

Launchpad has had his chance to be a hero on many counts, such as in Armstrong, when Scrooge and Gyro were held captive by Gyro's new robot, Armstrong, who was seizing control of the world, one Armed Forces base at a time. Huey, Dewey, and Louie raced to Launchpad's place to get his help when they discovered they needed backup to stop Armstrong, and Launchpad offered to fly them in aboard his Joyrider, which, according to Launchpad, had no electronic equipment within, so Armstrong couldn't take control of it. After crashing atop Gyro's barn (which is what he did best), Launchpad tried to sneak in, but was hindered by Armstrong. A chase ensued and ended as Launchpad was escaping up top, to his plane, but was grabbed at the ankle by Armstrong. As he was pulled down, Launchpad grabbed the release lever for his Joyrider's water tank, and that water cascaded on Armstrong and shorted him out.

During the episode Top Duck, Launchpad revealed that his family was a group of stunt performers called The Flying McQuacks, but Launchpad always felt he disappointed his family, and as such, he ran away to pursue his dream of being the best pilot in the world. When his family wrote him and said they were coming to visit, Launchpad felt he couldn't face them—especially his father, Ripcord, because he believed that his father was the reason he'd run away from home. Near the end, the Flying McQuacks helped Launchpad and Scrooge defeat the Beagle Boys and save the Money Bin, and Ripcord (finally) told his son that he was proud of him (because Launchpad had never let him finish any of his sentences).

Launchpad's adventures have also revealed the story of his great-great-grandfather, General Rhubarb McQuack, who he heard was the war hero that won the Battle of Duckridge—but in reality, Rhubarb had lost that famous battle, and Launchpad was fated to lose its reenactment when Duckridge decided to celebrate the anniversary of the city's Civil War. However, after meeting the actual soldiers who participated in the war under the service of General Rhubarb, Launchpad, Doofus, and Scrooge's nephews decided to give the long-forgotten army a chance to redeem themselves. During the reenactment, the nephews and Doofus rigged it so that the actual army participated, and not the actors. Even though Launchpad almost cost the army their redemption, the tide turned in their favor when he'd sent their tank charging into battle, overwhelming the enemy.

DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp
Launchpad served a minor role as Scrooge's pilot to the ruins of Collie Baba (a parody of Ali Baba, obviously), where Scrooge was after the legendary thief's treasure.

Darkwing Duck
When Launchpad met the legendary crimefighter, Darkwing Duck, he revealed that he was Darkwing's number-one fan and offered to be the crimefighter's sidekick. At the time, Darkwing declared that he was a loner as a superhero and didn't need any help. However, after Gosalyn had been kidnapped by Taurus Bullba—Darkwing's first real enemy—Launchpad revealed his newest plane, the Thunderquack, which they used to invade Bullba's airship and rescue Gosalyn. The Thunderquack served as Darkwing's personal plane after Darkwing dubbed Launchpad his true sidekick.

Since he became Darkwing's sidekick, Launchpad only served as Darkwing's pilot and almost nothing else. After much arguing, Darkwing was forced to switch roles with Launchpad for a day in the episode Water Way To Go, after S.H.U.S.H. called Darkwing to investigate a plot by F.O.W.L. to flood the desert of Oil-rabia and steal its riches. The twosome eventually saved the Princess of the kingdom and foiled the evil plot, and Darkwing accepted being a sidekick as not bad (for a fleeting few moments).

In the episode U.F. Foe, Launchpad revealed that he had a fear of flying as a young duckling, and he made friends with a female alien named Tia, who helped him overcome this fear. During a family vacation that ended up in the middle of nowhere, Tia had returned to declare her engagement to Launchpad, unknown to her that her vizier had planned to usurp her throne with a robotic duplicate of Launchpad. As part of the plan, Darkwing's brain was removed so that his body would become a literally mindless slave and lead Launchpad into certain doom. In the end, after exposing the coup, Launchpad and Darkwing had their memories erased of meeting Tia, and Tia decided to settle down with Launchpad's robotic clone.

Disney Parks
Launchpad McQuack was a walkaround character in the heyday of the Disney Afternoon and can still be found on rare occasions, sometimes with Darkwing, at the Magic Kingdom.