Johnny Hawk’s all too cool emblem for the Defiant Development Project.
In the DS9 Tech Manual I commisioned a couple of really cool emblems from Top Gun graphic designer Johnny Hawk. I don’t meant Top Gun the movie, I mean THE Top Gun, NAS Miramar.
(Above) Johnny Hawk’s logo for the Runabout Development Project.
Herman Zimmerman mentioned to me that he might be designing some stuff for Paramount Parks, and it was possible there would be a Top Gun attraction. I saw this as an unusual opportunity. “Say Herman! How about I got to Miramar and do some research? Could come in pretty handy!” Herman didn’t want me going to any trouble. Ha! Are you kidding? So Dorth called the Navel Air Station at Miramar, used the magic words: Star Trek, and we were in.
TOPGUN is the popular name of the United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor (SFTI) program. SFTI is the modern-day evolution of the United States Navy Fighter Weapons School and carries out the same specialized fighter training as NFWS had from 1969 until 1996, when it was merged into the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center at NAS Fallon, Nevada. (from the Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Fighter_Weapons_School)
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(Left)Lieutenant Commander Jeff Taylor of Top Gun. One cool cat who was pleased to show us around. As we were walking up to the tarmac, an F-14 was running up it’s engines. I asked Jeff if they roasted weiners on the blast like in HOTSHOTS! Without missing a beat he replied, “We tried that, but they kept blowing off the sticks!”
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(Below) Me sitting in the cockpit of an F-16 Falcon. You actually don’t sit in an F-16, you “wear it”. It’s like putting on a pair of pants
(Below) When I assisted Rick Sternbach while he was designing the Voyager, my main contribution was the starships forward profile, which came from this picture of an F-16N Falcon
(Below) But here is what the story is all about: the Top Gun graphic department….
…where I met Johnny hawk, and was delighted by the pilot’s call sign art created there. Feast…
To say that I was blown away is an understatement! I asked Johnny then and there if he would be willing to do a couple of logos for the DS9 tech Manual. The result was the Defiant and Runabout development logos at the top of the entry.
Several years later, I’m standing at the entrance to stage 16, when Michael Dorn in full Worf regalia comes up to me with his usual bellowing of… Drexler! Drexler! Drexler! Now as most of you know, Dorn flies a jet, in fact I believe he owned a Mig. “I’m a guest of the USS Nimitz” he says, “They fly me out to the ship, and we make a carrier landing… what a thrill! When I get out of the plane, there is quite a bit of fanfare, as I’m being treated as an honored guest. And I’m digging it! Then this Lieutenant Commander comes up to me and shakes my hand excitedly, and says: Do you know Doug Drexler?! Drexler! Drexler! Drexler!” Lieutenant Commander Jeff Taylor!
I absoloutly love those logos Doug, Thanks for sharing them.
Thanks for the additional info. BTW, how did you decide that the Defiant was launched from the Antares Fleet Yards (especially since Sisko supervised its construction according to “Defiant”, and he was almost certainly at Utopia Planitia all that time)? Did it come from the writers when you created the dedication plaque, or did they not specifically know at the time?
That’s a Mike question for sure. He is the dedication plaque maven, and did all the major plaques himself.
Very cool Doug! Do you know of any books with “TOP GUN” graphics..you know art books displaying the work over the years.
Joe – A book like that would be a natural. I don’t know of one.
For the longest time, when I saw these in the DS9 Tech Manual, I could never figure out who “Hawk” was because of the signature in the emblem. Thanks for clearing all that up, and what a heck of a story! The Defiant badge was very fitting, and I loved all the detail on the Runabout badge.
I wonder if anyone’s built a Defiant model using that paint scheme (teeth on the deflector ‘nose’)…
Very Cool story.
I love both of these logo, and wonder why we never say anymore for other ships & Station.
Now I know.
Ahahah too funny a Dorn story! And how cool are those logos, eh? And too funny that Dorth called, not you. Seems I’m not the only one that relies on the wifey for PA in such matters.
Coding heads-up Doug: Coupla your text links above loop back to unknown Drex Files pages, as the code is sayin’ to.
I just want to test a line here to see if I uncoded it correctly as I had been wondering what text link code syntax WordPress used.
Thanks for sharin’ this uber-cool entry, and how cool to sit in an F-15! That was the birdie that earned me an A+ on my senior year-end project in industrial drafting in HS.
LLP,
deg
Ignore, just deg tests under way:
Text link code TEST 01: deg’s code test 01
Text link code TEST 02: deg’s code test 02
I no fool. Dorth opens doors with her charm.
I have always loved these logos… what a cool story behind them!! Thanks as always, Doug!
Hey Doug, I’m curious: in the DS9 Tech Manual, who did the emblem for the DS9 reconstruction crew (the one with the slightly maniacal bee wielding various building tools)?
Howdy Rick! The “Construction Bee” was done by me. I originally did it for a DS9 construction department crew gift.
It’s funny, lookin’ at those graphics again, I see early animation influences in some of them, can’t recall the names, but they were those trippy ones (those guys hadda be hopped up on somethin’) with the musical instruments and inanimate objects that would break into song and dance, big giant production real trippy, almost creepy to me as a kid. Jeez, I can’t recall who did them.. Anywho, those and a cross-over with Crumb.
PLL,
deg
deg, I see a lot of influence from Big Daddy Roth and Mouse, both car culture cartoonists from the 1960’s
Dorn owned a Mig??? Oh MAN!
Jay – It may have been a Sabre. I can’t recall. Korean war era.
Oh heck yeah, Rat Fink baby! See that too, even more easily now that ya mention it. Wow, remember those RF model kits and t-shirts? I would imagine Roth was influenced by anything and everything animation. Not much new under the sun, eh.
Great call dude.
LLP,
deg
Doug – either way, I reiterate: Oh MAN!!!
just so you know, that’s an F-16N Navy Falcon, not an F-15 Eagle, but I do see the Intrepid lines in it.
Cool! I remember pointing out that arrestor hook on the Runabout’s logo on TrekBBS a long while back, and I got an e-mail from Okuda explaining some of the story about Johnny Hawk.
Oh, and one of your captions says “which came from this picture of an F-15 Eagle”. That’s an F-16 Falcon, not an F-15 Eagle. I ought to know, I was a structural design engineer on the F-15 program for a while!
That F-16’s profile does look a lot like Voyager though, I’m surprised I missed that before!
Thanks lads for the heads up! I fixed the caption!
I was thinkin’ the nose looked a lil’ Y-axis squashed. I just kinda glanced at it, but the big give-away right way should have been the ventral intake.
Two aircraft-demerits for me.
Thanks B.J., and that’s pretty cool to have worked on the F-15, eh.
PLL,
deg
Wow, wow, wow, me being an airplane buff/scale modeler, noseart fan, and having actually printed the Defiant development logo onto a coffee mug, I can only say – great story! I too would have loved to see more of those badges. Especially all those little details and in-jokes make them so funny.
I tried to get the “Michael Dorn Airforce” together, but had no luck so far to find some usefull pictures of him with his planes. At one point, he owned an F-86 Sabre, before that it was a T-33 trainer aircraft which could have been his first jet. Not sure what came after the F-86, but I think it became a business jet. On the other hand, after flying with the Thunderbirds in their F-16’s, I bet Michael is saving up until one of those becomes available on the warbird market.
Cheers
Thorsten
Thorsten! I bet that looks smashing on a mug!
Thanks or putting up the Top Gun and logos, it is always a pleasure to see these.
Fun story and very cool logos. Love the “assimilate this!” in the Defiant logo.
Did you try to get these into Season 7 of DS9 by any chance, the way a lot of other DS9TM artwork ended up being used? Or were there approval/rights issues?
If the opportunity presented itself, we would have. It is safest to get approval. You never know what the director is going to show up close. I once got in a little bit of trouble for a Kassidy Yates cargo label. Levar liked it so much that he started a scene right on it, and pulled back to reveal the cargo bay. After that we were told that we had to clear all cargo labels before use.Naturally we never, ever got close to one again.
I don’t get it Doug, what was the trouble you got in? What was the aversion to the graphic that Levar himself liked so much as to feature? :: confused ::
LLP,
deg
deg – Our bosses like to have something to say about anything that gets a full frame on screen.
You mean the “Kasidy Yates” label on the container Sisko is holding?
http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/4×05/indiscretion_513.jpg
Boris – The server won’t let me in… A red label?
Ah, I would figure the trouble would fall on Levar as the director then, for putting it up full-screen. You were just doin’ your job, makin’ copies… sorry, I mean makin’ graphics. Now if you snuck something in there (ala Disney) that shouldn’t have been there, I could see them being peeved at you.
PPL,
deg
No… anything graphic on screen is the graphics department’s responsibility. We gave him something to work with that was not approved. That’s not Levar’s fault. On the other hand, who would have ever thought he would start a shot full frame on a cargo label?
Yes Boris;
Forbidden.
PLL,
deg
I sent it to Doug over email; maybe you can try copying the URL directly into the address bar.
Ah, sure sure, gotcha eh.
Thanks dude.
LLP,
deg
Hopefully, this should work. See the shots of Sisko and Kasidy below.
http://ds9.trekcore.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=109&page=21
I’ve always loved these logos! Again, knowing the backstory to them makes them that much cooler! The gun barrels on the Defiant are a nice touch!
The F-16 has been a long time favorite of mine! I love the picture of you sitting in the cockpit! I spent a couple of months in Mountain Home, ID where they have an AFB that services a lot of F-16’s. It was awesome to see them doing flight training. There’s just something too cool about being on base and seeing everyone in action.
I remember hearing a story about the producers being a little on edge about Dorn’s flying (though I suppose with good reason) where he got told to not fly, but did so anyway. He got busted because there was a story on the news about some other plane and in the background you could see either one of his planes taxing down the runway or him getting into a plane, I can’t remember which at the moment.
Did you happen to get a call sign logo for yourself Doug? What would your call sign be?
Excellent resolution on the postings. It’s nice to not only be priveleged to see this stuff, but also see it at a resolution that is better than how it
Excellent resolution on the postings. It’s nice to not only be priveleged to see this stuff, but also see it at a resolution that is better than how it was printed.
Interesting comment about the saucer profile of Voyager. Every little comment fills in the tapestry…
Funily enough, just this week I was listening to a pice on BBC radio about how, after the Vietnam War, Royal Navy F-4 Phantom pilots leped set up the Top Gun school.
I never thought about the similarity between Voyager and the F-16’s nose…but now I can’t think of anything else. Thanks!
That was a real fun day…I have the exact same shot, except with me in the cockpit, it lives up on my fridge. Real nice place, loved the huge dog-fight mural on the wall of the lobby.
Meanwhile out on the tarmack, they were doing touch-n-go take-off and landings right in front of us. There was simply kewl stuff everywhere you looked!
Good old Top Gun. Made people like me join the Navy (besides being a family tradition) thinking it would be all F-14s and shirtless volleyball with a bunch of other sweaty dudes. On that last note, I’m rather glad it wasn’t like Top Gun. Although when I was stationed in San Diego, by then Miramar was MCAS Miramar.
Hey Doug.
LOve your pictures from Miramar. What year did you visit?
I was there in 1992 and met Lt Cmdr Jeff taylor myself aswell. What a great guy.
Did you happen to notice on his bone dome that they spelt his name wrong as in Tayor and his call sign was Puke? His name was printed on one Topgun’s own tomcats and I believe it was mobex30 i think.
Such a great place to watch F-14s burn the runway up with their TF30s and just kick ass.
Regards
Andrew
Doug, man … I’ve only just found your blog, been chewing through the archives but this single post has me in tears of glee – my cheeks hurt. Those patches are beyond wonderful!
Thank you.