The Lucky Lekku was a Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry that participated in various battles during the Clone Wars. In service of the Galactic Republic, it would be utilized fighting against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. It was distinguishable, due to the nose art of a Twi'lek pin-up model, who bore clone trooper armor,[11] situated on both sides of the gunship, near the frontal portion of the vessel. The Lucky Lekku had been further exemplified by the Battle of Cato Neimoidia in 19 BBY, since its crew had destroyed sixty-three Vulture-class droid starfighters and twenty-six droid tri-fighters, resulting in an amassed total of eighty-nine starfighters destroyed—these kills were tallied on the right-hand side of the gunship.[11]
Characteristics[]
A 17.69-meter-long, 17-meter-wide, and 6.9-meter-tall[3] Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry gunship, Lucky Lekku was propelled by twin engines located on its stern hull.[1][12] The gunship was armed with three antipersonnel turrets, two of which were mounted at its bow while a third was mounted at its aft, two dorsal mounted mass-driver missile launchers along with one port and starboard composite-beam laser turret.[4]
The Lucky Lekku's nose art depicted a Rutian Twi'lek female, wearing clone armor, and her lekku being a combination of blue and a shade of green, creating a blotchy pattern.[11] Surrounding this art, layed the tallies for the confirmed Separatist starfighters destroyed.[11]
History[]
Overview[]
The Lucky Lekku[13] had been in the active service of the Galactic Republic Navy, since the earliest engagements of the conflict, within 22 BBY, notably during the Battle of Teth.[1] The gunship was also stationed within the hanger of the Venator-class Star Destroyer, Resolute,[8] of Jedi General, Anakin Skywalker's fleet, consisting of fellow Venators, Defender and Redeemer.[14] The Lucky Lekku remained in service as late as the Battle of Cato Neimoidia.[9]
Battle of Teth[]
The Lucky Lekku was among a flight of seven other Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry vehicles, which launched an assault upon the abandoned B'omarr Order Monastery, on Teth, in an attempt to find Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba Desilijic Tiure, whom Asajj Ventress, a Sith acolyte of Count Dooku, had abducted from his homeworld Tatooine.[1]
The gunship approached the monastery and had sustained heavy oncoming fire from several DSD1 dwarf spider droids, that had been positioned on the Teth Monastery.[1] The powerful laser cannons mounted on the droids were effective in repulsing the Lucky Lekku, as well as the other gunships, attacking from above. Unable to land on the monastery, Anakin Skywalker, with his recently assigned Jedi Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, instructed for the blast shields to be closed, and subsequently directed the transports and carriers to deploy their ground forces to the jungle below. Traveling under the barrage being inflicted against them, the Lucky Lekku assisted in this deployment.[1] Although it had endured heavy fire, the gunship survived this encounter and continued its participation within the war.[5][8][6][9]
Defense of the Rishi Station[]
The Lucky Lekku, along with another LAAT/i, known as the Crumb Bomber,[15] aided in the search for surviving clone troopers on the surface of the Rishi moon.[5]
The gunship assisted in the location and retrieval of clone troopers Clone Marshal Commander CC-2224 "Cody" and Clone Captain CT-7567 "Rex," along with the surviving clones troopers of the Rishi Station unit, CT-1409 "Echo" and CT-5555 "Fives."[5] The two latter clones would be brought back to the fleet, and are commended directly by Jedi Generals Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, for their valiant service, and admirable sacrifice - they are both awarded with medals and absorbed into the 501st Legion.[5][16]
Battle of Ryloth[]
During the battle, Lucky Lekku—along with Spaceward Ho!—were stationed onboard the flagship of General Skywalker, Resolute, which was the capital ship of his personal fleet, in the Fifth Fleet, within the Open Circle Armada.[8][10]
Second Battle of Geonosis[]
During this engagement, Lucky Lekku was utilized strictly as an armored infantry transport, carrying its passengers of clone troopers to the ground, for the objective of a planetary-wide assault—akin to it's fellow gunships.[6] The purpose of the invasion was to halt the operation of the many droid foundries across Geonosis, preventing the Confederacy of Independent Systems from further strengthening their military—the most vital of them, the primary droid foundry, was protected by a deflector shield and constituted as the main target for the Republic landing forces.[6][17]
The gunship was merely one of multitudes of LAAT/i repulsorcraft and Low Altitude Assault Transport carriers used to attack the planet.[6] Within the atmosphere, the landing forces encountered harsh Geonosian resistance, with significant casualties being inflicted by the ground-based Geonosian defense emplacements[6][18] namely the LR1K sonic cannons and J-1 proton cannons. Starfighters were also employed, which were predominantly the Nantex-class territorial defense starfighters.[6][18] Despite the incurred loss of many Low Altitude Assault Transports to overwhelming firepower, the Lucky Lekku survived and continued to partake in the Clone War.[9]
Battle of Cato Neimoidia[]
The gunship was once again deployed, as a transport, which delivered Captain Rex to the battlefield.[9] By this time, the Lucky Lekku had accumulated a total of eighty-nine kills, as indicated by the recorded tally.[9][11]
Behind the scenes[]
The Lucky Lekku first appeared, within the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film, albeit unidentified, until the publishing of The Clone Wars Episode Guide for "Storm Over Ryloth" on StarWars.com, in which it was titled within the slide images of the Episode Gallery. The Concept Art Gallery for "Sabotage" has an illustration by Pat Presley; each indicates the crew of the Lucky Lekku has downed dozens of droid fighters throughout the conflict. Since its debut, it has had limited appearances, across the majority of the television series, from Season One's Malevolence arc, to the beginning of Season Five's final arc and finale, "Sabotage."
The stylized nose art depicted on both sides of the gunship, along with various LAAT vehicles within the series, are a reference and homage to real-world pin-up art—usually buxom and scantily clad models and actresses—that were painted onto aircraft, such as fighter and bomber planes, by their crews, during the Second World War and beyond.[19]
The particular artwork on the Lucky Lekku may be inspired and derived from the pin-up girl painted onto a Consolidated B-24(J-165-CO) Liberator Bomber, "Night Mission" 532 44-40532, from the 30th Bombardment Group—subsequently the 30th Operations Group (30 OG) from 1991 to 2021[20][21]—within the 819th Bombardment Squadron (active from 1941 to 1945)[22] of the USAF Seventh Air Force.[23]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars film (First appearance)
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Rising Malevolence"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Shadow of Malevolence"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Rookies"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Storm Over Ryloth"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Landing at Point Rain"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Sabotage"
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "The Phantom Apprentice"
Sources[]
- "Storm Over Ryloth" Episode Guide | The Clone Wars on StarWars.com (backup link) (First identified as Lucky Lekku)
- "Landing at Point Rain" Episode Guide | The Clone Wars on StarWars.com (backup link)
- "Sabotage" Episode Guide | The Clone Wars on StarWars.com (backup link)
- Ultimate Star Wars
- The Clone Wars Rewatch: Lessons from Teth in the Theatrical Release (Part 2 of 3) on StarWars.com (backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 Star Wars: The Clone Wars film
- ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars film depicts the Lucky Lekku as a Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry, which according to the reference book, Star Wars Complete Vehicles, New Edition is stated to utilise several repulsorlifts arrays, which also render it a repulsorcraft.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Star Wars: The Clone Wars film depicts the Lucky Lekku as a Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry gunship, which measures to 17.69 meters in length, and 6.94 meters in height according to Republic Attack Gunship in the Databank (backup link). According to Ultimate Star Wars, Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry gunships were 17 meters in width, and as the Lucky Lekku was an LAAT/i, it must also be 17 meters in width.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Star Wars: The Clone Wars film depicts the Lucky Lekku as a Low Altitude Assault Transport/infantry vehicle, which possesses various weapons that are identified as: three antipersonnel turrets; two remote-operated composite-beam pinpoint laser turrets; eight light air-to-air rockets and two mass-driver missile launchers, according to the reference book, Star Wars Complete Vehicles, New Edition. Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season Two, Landing at Point Rain, depicts the Lucky Lekku with an additional two weapon emplacements, which are identified as optional manned composite-beam pinpoint laser turrets, according to Star Wars Complete Vehicles, New Edition.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Rookies"
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Landing at Point Rain"
- ↑ Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Rising Malevolence"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Storm Over Ryloth"
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Sabotage"
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Star Wars Complete Vehicles, New Edition establishes that Venator-class Star Destroyers that possess the Open Circle Armada emblem marked onto their hulls and five red stripes imprinted on their port and starboard wingtip surfaces, serve within the Open Circle Fleet and Fifth Fleet, respectively. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Season One, the episode, Storm Over Ryloth depicted the Venator-class Star Destroyer that Lucky Lekku was stationed aboard—Resolute—to have five red stripes of the Fifth Fleet present on its wingtip surfaces, in addition to the logo/emblem of the Open Circle Fleet present on its hull. Therefore, the Lucky Lekku is affiliated with both of the aforementioned naval fleets.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 "Sabotage" Trivia Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 6)
- ↑ Star Wars Complete Vehicles, New Edition
- ↑ "Storm over Ryloth" Trivia Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 4)
- ↑ "Storm Over Ryloth" Episode Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 2)
- ↑ "Shadow of Malevolence" Trivia Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 1)
- ↑ "Rookies" Episode Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 12)
- ↑ "Landing at Point Rain" Episode Guide | The Clone Wars on StarWars.com (backup link) (Synopsis)
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Landing at Point Rain" Episode Gallery on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 4)
- ↑ The Clone Wars Rewatch: Lessons from Teth in the Theatrical Release (Part 2 of 3) on StarWars.com (backup link) (Intel)
- ↑ www.afhra.af.mil {{C | backup link}}
- ↑ www.SpaceCom.com {{C | backup link}}
- ↑ [Maurer, Combat Squadrons, p. 768]
- ↑ World of War Photos - Consolidated B-24 Liberator Bomber, "Night Mission" pin-up girl nose art