The X-wing fighter was designed to incorporate lessons learned in assessing the performance of Clone Wars-era winged starfighters such as the popular Z-95 Headhunter and the powerful ARC-170.

The X-wing’s power and size could be intimidating to new pilots, but most found the fighters gratifyingly responsive to their commands. Luke Skywalker, for instance, used skills honed flying a T-16 skyhopper through Tatooine’s canyons to great effect at the Battle of Yavin. And pilots could always turn to their onboard astromech droids for assistance.

After the X-wings eluded the Death Star’s turbolasers above Yavin, TIE fighters from the battle station’s complement engaged them ship to ship, with pilots on both sides calling on skill behind the stick and aid from wingmen to survive the encounter.

The rebel pilots relied on proton torpedoes to penetrate the ray-shielded thermal exhaust port that was the Death Star’s lone vulnerable point. Onboard targeting computers told the pilots when to fire – though Luke shut off his computer and listened to the Force instead.

At the Battle of Hoth, Princess Leia briefed a squadron of X-wing pilots on the Alliance’s plan for withdrawing from Echo Base. Assisted by fire from a ground-mounted ion cannon, the X-wings escorted the slow, vulnerable rebel transports to safety past prowling TIE fighters and lurking Star Destroyers.

The X-wing pilots who escaped Hoth traveled through hyperspace to an agreed-upon rendezvous point. But Luke had another mission. He flew his X-wing to the mysterious planet Dagobah – though he’d need a Jedi Master’s help to extract it from the swamp he crashed the starfighter into.

At the Battle of Endor, Wedge Antilles led the rebels’ X-wings as Red Leader, honoring the name of the squadron that had destroyed the first Death Star above Yavin.

When Han Solo’s sabotage brought down the second Death Star’s protective shield, Wedge and his fellow X-wing pilots followed the Millennium Falcon into its superstructure. Proton torpedoes fired by Wedge and Lando Calrissian destroyed the battle station, giving the Alliance a major victory in its war against the Empire.