Imperial gunners

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Size:
  1.8 meters

• Weapon:
  Superlaser

• Vehicle:
  Death Star, Death Star II

• Affiliation:
  Empire

• 

From the Movies

Operating the immense weaponry of the Imperial starfleet are skilled gunners dressed in specialized uniforms. The gunner's features are entirely obscured by a large, sweeping helmet with a single wrap-around visor. The dark helmet helps suppress some of the dangerous flashback from such massive cannons as the turbolasers and superlaser found aboard the original Death Star.

From the Expanded Universe

Imperial gunners were a special sub-unit of the Imperial pilot corps. Most gunners in the Imperial Navy were either TIE fighter pilots in training, or those who failed to make the piloting grade, yet still had exceptional weapons skills. Though few Navy recruits ever chose to become a gunner, the gunnery corps were still a loyal and enthusiastic bunch.

Imperial gunners wore a helmet cast of neutral alloy armor, with a built-in targeting computer link-up. Aboard the Death Star, gunnery crew leaders carefully managed the unbelievable energies of the station's weapon systems and kept such destructive power carefully in balance.

Behind the Scenes

The production nickname for the sleek black headgear of the Death Star gunners was "beetle helmets." During the superlaser firing sequence in A New Hope, the two Death Star gunners huddled in the laser cannon conduit are actually ILM modelmakers Grant McCune and Joe Johnston.