Rebel pilot

Luke Skywalker, a well-known rebel pilot

Rebel pilots were pilots who served the Rebel Alliance under the Alliance's starfighter corps. They fought in countless battles against the Imperial forces during the Galactic Civil War. They piloted fighters such as A-wing starfighters, B-wing starfighters, snowspeeders, X-wing starfighters, and Y-wing starfighters.

History

Battle of Yavin

General Jan Dodonna explaining the weak spot of the Death Star.

Before the Battle of Yavin started, pilots of the Rebel Alliance were given a task to destroy the Empire's superweapon, the Death Star. With the valuable information R2-D2 provided, the rebels learned that the Death Star had a small exhaust port which might be a good spot to place proton torpedoes in order to destroy the space station.

Once the mission briefing ended, members of Red Squadron and Gold Squadron were assigned to their X-wings and Y-wings. Soon after they were launched to space, they entered the Death Star's magnetic field and began the attack. During the attack run on the station's surface, they encountered turbolaser defenses.

Red Squadron flying through the trench.

Due to the X-wings' small and fast body, the station's turbolasers weren't quite effective to the rebel fighters. Noticing that fact, the Sith Lord Darth Vader personally led a TIE/LN starfighter squadron in his TIE Advanced x1 to bring down the rebels himself.

During the race in the trench, Vader took down a considerable number of rebel pilots including Garven Dreis, leader of Red Squadron, and Biggs Darklighter, close friend of Luke Skywalker. After several take downs, Vader was ultimately aiming for Luke's fighter, however, just before he could take an accurate shot, the Millennium Falcon, piloted by Han Solo, appeared from above, and took down one of his escort TIE fighter pilots. Thanks to Solo's distraction, Skywalker had a clear chance to fire torpedoes to the exhaust port. Aided by the Force, the torpedoes entered the exhaust port, reached the Death Star's main reactor, and caused a chain reaction which ultimately made the entire structure explode.

When the battle ended, the only surviving rebel pilots with the crew of the Falcon were Luke Skywalker, Wedge Antilles, and 1 Y-wing pilot. After the Royal Award Ceremony, Rebel pilot Evaan Verlaine accompanied Princess Leia Organa in a mission to rescue the survivors of Alderaan.

Battle of Hoth

Although the Rebel Alliance achieved a major victory at Yavin, they were eventually forced to abandon their base and settled down at a remote ice world of Hoth. They were found by one of the Imperial probe droids searching through the galaxy, and as a result, Death Squadron came to the Hoth system.

But because of Admiral Kendal Ozzel's mistake, the Rebel Alliance noticed the approaching Imperials and activated a planetary shield generator which could protect their base from orbital bombardments. With the plan to bombard the rebel base from orbit precluded, Vader Force choked Admiral Ozzel to death and ordered General Maximillian Veers to lead the ground forces and destroy the shield generator.

Rogue Squadron flying towards the Imperial walkers.

While the Empire was planning the assault, the rebel defense line was formed to hold off the attackers until the rest of the Alliance members evacuate the planet. When the rebels spotted the Imperial AT-AT walkers, rebel pilots employed T-47 airspeeders to face them.

Rogue Squadron, a group of snowspeeders, led by Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles, utilized tow cables to entangle the AT-ATs' legs to trip them down. This strategy was effective by focusing on the weak spot of the walker, but they were eventually defeated by the superior firepower of the armored walkers, forced to either retreat or shot down.

Battle of Endor

Devastator destroyed by members of Blade Squadron.

One year after the devastating defeat on Hoth, the Rebel Alliance gathered for planning a large-scale assault on the newly constructed Death Star II. Many of the Alliance Fleet were part of this attack, so as the rebel pilots under their service. When they were out of hyperspace in the second Death Star's vicinity, there was the Death Squadron waiting for them. Realizing that it was a trap, the fleet, led by Admiral Gial Ackbar, and several rebel pilots with General Lando Calrissian in charge, engaged the Imperial fleet in point-black range.

During the battle, Blade Squadron consisted of A/SF-01 B-wing starfighters encountered the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Devastator commanded by Admiral Jhared Montferrat. Despite the disadvantage in firepower, two rebel pilots, Gina Moonsong and Braylen Stramm, managed to hit the Star Destroyer's navigational shielding, leading to the destruction of the ship.

When the Death Star's shield was down, several fighters entered the Death Star's superstructure with the Millennium Falcon to reach the station's reactor core and destroy it. Meanwhile, an A-wing pilot Arvel Crynyd flew his craft towards the Super Star Destroyer Executor's bridge. By his sacrifice, the bridge was destroyed, bringing the massive star destroyer to its end.

Inside the Death Star, Wedge Antilles took a shot on the Death Star's power regulator. The following shot by the Falcon destroyed its main reactor and they flew their way out. The Death Star exploded just after the Falcon came out, and later on Endor, the rebel pilots celebrated their victory with the Ewoks and the rest of the Alliance members.

Organization

Training

Rebel pilots often were trained on the fly by their superiors, while most new recruits already possessed keen starfighting abilities. It was common practice for rebel pilots to be taught and utilize the scatter protocol, which set up a practice of randomly choosing a path through hyperspace after each operation before rendezvousing with the Alliance Fleet in an attempt to evade any possible Imperial pursuit.

Equipment

Rebel pilots wore orange, grey, green or red flight suits with a flak vest and life support box on top. Their flight helmets were often decorated with the Alliance starbird although could be customized with squadron insignia or images of personal significance.

Appearances

• Rogue One
• Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Princess Leia, Part I
• Star Wars: Princess Leia, Part II
• Star Wars: Princess Leia, Part III
• Star Wars: Princess Leia, Part IV
• The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure
• Heir to the Jedi
• Star Wars 1: Skywalker Strikes
• Star Wars 2: Skywalker Strikes, Part II
• Star Wars 3: Skywalker Strikes, Part III
• Star Wars: Darth Vader 1: Vader (In flashback(s))
• Star Wars 4: Skywalker Strikes, Part IV
• Star Wars: Darth Vader 3: Vader, Part III (Mentioned only, in the opening crawl)
• Star Wars: Darth Vader 5: Vader, Part V (Mentioned only; in the opening crawl)
• Star Wars Battlefront
• Star Wars: Commander
• Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back
• "Blade Squadron" — Star Wars Insider 149–150
• Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
• Star Wars: Shattered Empire
• Star Wars: Uprising

Sources

• Rebel Pilots in the Encyclopedia (content now obsolete; backup link) (First identified as Rebel pilot)
• Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy (First identified as Rebel fighter pilot)
• Star Wars in 100 Scenes
• Ultimate Star Wars
• Biggs Darklighter biography slideshow in the Databank (backup link); image #6 (of 10)
• D'Qar in the Databank (backup link)
• Rebel Pilots in the Databank (backup link)
• TIE fighter in the Databank (backup link)
• Y-wing Starfighter in the Databank (backup link)

Notes and references

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