Seeing as I’ve done a video on every TIE
Fighter variant, it’s only fair that I do one on every Rebel and New Republic starfighter
as well. This video will be focusing largely on the
letter-wing models, but will include some other significant starfighters as well. While many of the ships in this video are
canon, most of the actual information is going to come from Legends sources. Let’s start with the primary ship of the
Rebel fleet, T-65 X-Wing Starfighter. With their S-foils locked into attack position,
their four wings took on their distinctive x shape. They were developed by the Incom corporation
to be excellent all-around fighters, and they were used decades after the Galactic Civil
War in both Canon and Legends storylines, although in the canon they were upgraded to
the T-70. There were many additional variations on the
X-Wing, but in the canon, the X-Wings that took part in the Battle of Yavin were specifically
the T-65B model. The predecessor to the X-Wing was the Z-95
Headhunter, also manufactured by the Incom Corporation. It resembled an X-Wing with its S-foils closed. It was developed before the Clone Wars. Despite being outdated, the Rebel Alliance
often used Z-95s, and Rogue Squadron even used them in their mission to capture Coruscant
after the Battle of Endor. A Heavy-95 variant also existed. The Y-Wing starfighter, like the Z-95, was
developed decades before the Galactic Civil War. Originally crewed by one pilot and one gunner,
the Rebel Alliance used models that did away with the gun turret. They also stripped down the armor for more
efficient repairs. Y-Wings were primarily used as bombers. Multiple variations of the Y-Wing existed
including the BTL-A4, the BTL-A4 LP, and the BTL-S3. The M-class starfighter was kind of a variation
on the Y-Wing in that they were partly built from salvaged parts of broken Y-Wings. They were crewed by a pilot and a navigator,
and some were in use at Echo Base on Hoth. The RZ-1 A-Wing was the smallest and fastest
of the Rebel starfighters. They were manufactured by Kuat Systems, but
were modified by the Alliance to increase speed and maneuverability. It was able to outfly the TIE Interceptor. Like the X-Wing they were used in the early
days of the Rebellion all the way to decades after the Galactic Civil War. In Legends they could be seen fighting the
Yuuzhan Vong, and in Canon they were used by the Resistance. A slight variation on the A-Wing, the R-22
Spearhead was also used by the Alliance. A two-seated version of this fighter existed. The B-Wing, also known as the Blade Wing,
was created to engage and destroy capital ships. It was far less maneuverable than the other
Rebel ships, but was very heavily armed. The Canon B-Wing’s prototype, the B6, was
armed with a composite-beam laser and had a second gunner’s at the opposite end of
the ship. A Legends predecessor to the B-Wing was the
H-60 Tempest bomber, that resembled a B-Wing without its wings. The E-Wing starfighter was developed under
the New Republic. It was a marriage of the best qualities of
both the X-Wing and the A-Wing, and was meant to replace the X-Wing. While it was a versatile ship, it was less
reliable, and most pilots preferred to modify their X-Wings rather than switch to new ships. The K-Wing assault starfighter was a heavy
bomber. It was created by the New Republic to cause
massive bombing damage to planetary targets or capital ships. Despite its larger size, it was about as fast
as its big brother, the Y-Wing. The T-Wing served a similar function to the
A-Wing, and was meant to replace the craft. Unfortunately it was poorly constructed using
cheap materials, was full of coding errors, and didn’t look nearly as cool. The H-Wing was another bomber created by the
same company that made the Y-Wing and K-Wing. During its time, it was the second most heavily
armed starfighter in the fleet, the B-Wing being the first. It was a two-seated fighter designed as a
long range strike fighter and bomber. The V-Wing was technically an airspeeder and
not a starfighter, but it’s got a letter-wing name so I’m going to include it. Not to be confused with the Clone Wars era
V-Wing, this Legends vehicle was only used by the New Republic. It was incredibly fast and maneuverable, but
lacked any shields. And since I included the V-Wing, I should
probably also include the T-47. Again, it’s an airspeeder and not a starfighter. It was originally designed for cargo and freight,
but its resilient design made it ideal for Echo Base on Hoth, and so the Rebels modified
it to suit their purposes. The R-41 Starchaser was a competitor of the
Z-95 Headhunter. It was a balanced starfighter that was only
lightly used by the Rebellion. The Cutlass-9 patrol fighter was originally
created to protect the SoroSuub corporation on Sullust. But when Sullust seceded from the Empire,
they offered the services of their starfighters to the Rebel Alliance. Additionally, and although they were very
lightly used, the Alliance did use other Clone Wars-era ships including the N-1, the Eta-2,
the ARC-170, and the Belbullab-22. After the Galactic Civil War, the New Republic
could even be seen using various TIE models. The last ship I want to mention is the D-Wing. I’m only mentioning it because of its name
because it was actually an Imperial starfighter. But it has a letter-wing name so I at least
wanted to let you know that it exists. And that’s all of the starfighters used
by the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic. If you want to learn more about any of these
ships individually, check out this playlist, which is also in the description. And if you liked this video you might enjoy
the video I did covering every TIE fighter variant. Or the one on every AT class walker. Both of those are right here. Finally if you haven’t already, I’d love
for you to subscribe to my channel to see new Star Wars videos every Monday through
Friday! As always, thank you for watching, and may
the Force be with you!
