By the Galactic Civil War, many Y-wings were stripped of their hull plating and engine nacelles, shortening their length to 16.24 meters, for ease of maintenance, as their older parts often broke down, and models that eliminated the gunner's turret had been introduced.
Sold to military surplus sellers or scrapyards, the Rebels sought to buy or steal as many as they could, with the Y-wing being the most common Rebel starfighter during the Galactic Civil War.
Origin and design. Colin Cantwell, who also designed the saga's TIE fighters, initially designed the Y-wing with a large bubble turret for a gunner. However, the dome did not appear properly when filmed against bluescreen and subsequent designs omitted the turret.
The Y-Wing is generally better than its Imperial counterpart, the TIE Bomber. Its ion cannons are capable of disabling an enemy vessel's shields and weapons for a short window, allowing the bomber to complete its attack run unimpeded. In addition, its ion cannon makes it less vulnerable to corvettes than the TIE.
The Y-Wing is the work horse of the rebel fleet. It's not quick or flashy but it gets the job done. The armor on this ship is extensive, and the shields will protect you from just about anything, which is good, because you won't be going anywhere fast.
By the Galactic Civil War, many Y-wings were stripped of their hull plating and engine nacelles, shortening their length to 16.24 meters, for ease of maintenance, as their older parts often broke down, and models that eliminated the gunner's turret had been introduced.
The Y-Wing starfighter closely resembles the the P-47 in its role among the Rebel Alliance's air fleets. Designed originally as a fighter, it too found great usage as an attack aircraft best suited to destruction of large targets.
B-wings weren't much good in dogfights – their pilots complained that they maneuvered like freighters – and were a struggle to maintain. But the B-wing's potent combination of weapons made it a deadly assault starfighter and a worthy addition to the Alliance arsenal.
The Y-Wing was far ahead of its time here. It's Class 1 hyperdrive made it one of the fastest ships in hyperspace during the Clone Wars. During the Galactic Civil War, this speed was still good enough for it to keep up with other Rebel fighters past light speed, and able to outrun most Imperial ships.
The E-7 E-wing multi-role starfighter, also called E-wing escort starfighter, was a single-pilot starfighter developed by FreiTek Inc. It was notable for being the first fighter designed entirely under the support of the New Republic. E-wings deployed with updated laser cannons were known as the Type B.
Verlaine was the only Y-wing pilot of Gold Squadron to survive the assault, and returned to the Rebellion's headquarters on Yavin 4 with the other survivors. Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Wedge Antilles, R2-A3, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Verlaine were the only rebel survivors of the starfighter assault.
The BLT-B Y-wing starfighters, also known as Y-wing bombers or simply Y-wing starfighters, were flown mostly by clone trooper pilots during the Clone Wars.
Famous Y-wing pilots included Jon Vander, who led Gold Squadron during the Battle of Yavin; Keyan Farlander, the only surviving member from Gold Squadron in the attack; Davish Krail, who had flown them for five years; and Horton Salm, one of the New Republic's foremost Y-wing pilots.
With the dubious honour of being history's deadliest bomber and the only aircraft to drop a nuclear weapon in combat, the B-29 is arguably the most important and controversial aircraft in human history. This is the B-29 Superfortress. Controversy swelled around the B-29 long before it took its first flight in 1942.
The Focke-Wulf FW-190 was widely believed to be the best fighter aircraft of World War II. As the war went on the FW-190 was manufactured in no fewer than 40 different models.
The B-17 did have some advantages over the Lancaster, notably its heavy self-defence armament and its service ceiling was higher, between 25-35,000 feet depending on bomb load, whereas the Lancaster's was 24,500 feet. In addition, the B-17 proved to be easier to escape from if the aircraft was shot down.
The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It has the longest wingspan of any combat aircraft ever built, at 230 ft (70 m). The B-36 was the first bomber capable of delivering any of the nuclear weapons in the U.S. arsenal from an internal bomb bay without aircraft modifications.
It has been nicknamed the "Bone" (from "B-One"). It is one of the Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with the B-2 Spirit and the B-52 Stratofortress, as of 2024. Its 75,000-pound (34,000 kg) payload is the heaviest of any U.S. bomber.
The Indian MiG-21 is known less for its mediocre-at-best air combat records and more for its high crash rate. To date, more than 400 MiG-21 aircrafts have crashed killing more than 200 pilots, leading it to be aptly dubbed as a “flying coffin” and “widow maker” in the public and in aviation circles.
The Red Wing (or Aerodrome #1) was an early aircraft designed by Thomas Selfridge and built by the Aerial Experiment Association in 1908. It was named for the bright red color of its silk wings — chosen to achieve the best result with the photographic materials and techniques of the day.
The last version of a venerable fighter design that dates back to the Clone Wars, the BTA Y-wing now flies for the Resistance in battle against the First Order.
