The Beauty Of The B-Wing
Image Source: CultureSlate
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the Rebel Alliance made a critical strike on the Empire. The Battle of Endor saw many cruisers and starfighters assault the Death Star II, waging war with an Empire that saw the defeat of the Rebels as inevitable. Among the collection of starfighters that took part in the Battle of Endor were the familiar X-wings and Y-wings, alongside two new starfighters created for Return of the Jedi. The more interesting of the two is the B-wing.
While the A-wing looked similar to a Y-wing without its rear half, the B-Wing had a more unique look, a design that made it difficult to film for Return of the Jedi. So, while they were present at the Battle of Endor, the most that is seen of them is their evasive maneuvers once Lando realizes the shield surrounding the Death Star II is still up. The B-wing’s long, thin body meant it blended into the starscape added in post-production.
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Image Source: StarWars.com
Though their capabilities couldn’t be explored in Return of the Jedi, video games and other media made sure to do so. B-wings weren’t the fastest starfighters of the fleet, but they had a lot of firepower to make up for that. Weapons were mounted at the tips of the S-foils, underneath the command pod, the weapons pod on the other side of its hull, and between the command pod and engine cluster. Among its weapons were an ion cannon, heavy laser cannon, and proton torpedo launcher. The command pod could also hold twin auto-blasters.
The B-wing’s command pod had a gyroscopic control system, which rotated the rest of the fighter around it while keeping the pilot locked to a horizon line. This had the effect of keeping g-forces experienced by a pilot at a minimum, allowing them a greater focus on targets in battle. The downside to such a system meant that if the gyroscopic control failed, the fighter would lock to its current position, putting a pilot under a lot more stress when flying.
The B-wing in canon was first designed by Quarrie, a Mon Calamari engineer hidden from the galaxy on Shantipole. His prototype, the B6 Blade Wing, had a few differences to the mass produced version of the B-wing seen at the Battle of Endor. For one thing, it was faster and more agile; for another, it had a big old party piece of a weapon: a composite-beam laser, much like that of the Death Star. Though its range was shorter, it was still capable of destroying cruisers. Lastly, the weapons pod had a cockpit of its own, allowing for a separate gunner to make use of its arsenal.
Image Source: Disney+
At some point after the Battle of Endor, at least some of those features would be incorporated into B-wings. During a mission to repel pirate forces attacking the planet At Attin, a New Republic squadron utilized the composite-beam lasers of the B-Wings to destroy several of the cruisers of that pirate fleet. The B-wings would also later see use in the war between the Resistance and First Order; they can be seen during the Battle of Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker, among the various other starfighters led by Poe Dameron in that assault.
With such a unique design, the B-wing would end up in various games, such as the old X-wing series. Its latest video game appearance was EA’s Star Wars Squadrons, where it was added alongside the TIE Defender in a December 2020 update. For those who like to get a feel for how the starfighters of the galaxy fly, Squadrons is the best way of doing so. B-wings were officially playable in Renegade Squadron, and fans have also modded them into the Star Wars Battlefront series.
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Sources: Wookieepedia, EA
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