Throughout the entirety of its existence, the Alliance to Restore the Republic was faced
with what was perhaps the most daunting objective in galactic history.
To bring about the end of Palpatine’s Empire, a scattered coalition of idealists, mercenaries,
pirates and smugglers, would need to achieve a decisive triumph over the military apparatus
that fought through the Clone Wars to absolute victory.
An overwhelming force, that in victory, had not only rejected any type of demobilization,
but rather, actually expanded its forces, to secure in peacetime what had been won in
war.
Without legions of obedient droids, a colossal starfleet, or even broad support across the
galaxy, the Rebellion would need to succeed where even the Confederacy of Independent
Systems could not.
To do this, the Alliance would fight a different type of war.
There would be no great campaigns, no static frontlines, but instead a decentralized network
of Rebel cells embracing abushes, sabotage, raids and hit and run tactics.
It would be an unconventional and especially dangerous type of war, and one perfectly suited
to the Rebel Alliance Starfighter Corps.
While many uncoordinated group s of Rebel starfighters existed across the galaxy since
the end of the Clone Wars, their consolidation into a single organized force was only achieved
some 17 years later.
Even so, this Starfighter Corps existed mainly on paper, with the Rebellion still unable
to concentrate its forces and achieve any type of standardization.
Despite this, the Alliance Starfighters were able to achieve remarkable early successes,
driven in part by the Rebellion’s military doctrine.
Knowing that attempting to match the Empire’s numerical advantage was futile, the Alliance
leadership instead prioritized starfighters that emphasized survivability, cost-effectiveness
and most critically, hyperdrive capability.
Not only would this allow Rebel pilots to survive situations their Imperial counterparts
might not, but in doing so, veteren pilots could build the institutional knowledge of
the corps, allowing rookie pilots to integrate, and acquire experience quickly.
The Alliance was initially hard-pressed to find starfighters that met their stringent
requirements, instead taking whatever they could get.
But as the Galactic Empire began replacing its oldest equipment in favor of new models,
the Rebellion was able to make use of several, retired designs.
Both the Z-95 Headhunter, an adaptable well regarded snub-fighter, and the BTL Y-Wing,
a heavily armed and armoured bomber, were outdated relics of the Clone Wars, but uniquely
suited to service in the rebellion.
Easy to repair and built in such numbers that finding spare parts was not an issue, these
two starfighters were critical components of the early Rebellion.
These models were later joined by a small number of UT-60D, U-Wings.
A hybrid transport and gunship, U-Wings quickly proved their worth and versatility, but were
never available in larger numbers.
It was only through political machinations of Senator and secret Rebel leader Bail Organa
that a small number of the craft were secretly sent to Rebel forces.
While the U-Wing would not be a major factor in the Starfighter Corps, the reason behind
its limited production run would end up being essential to the Alliance’s survival.
The U-Wing was one of the last models produced by the Incom Corporation before its nationalization
by the Galactic Empire.
A prominent designer of well regarded starfighters and speeders, Incom’s designs were seen
by the Empire as ill-suited to their shifting starfighter doctrine, which prioritized speed
and armament at the expense of protection.
Existing production lines, including the U-Wing were cancelled, and Incom increasingly sidelined
in favor of the rival company Sienar Fleet Systems.
But where Incom’s starfighters were incongruous with Imperial military thinking, they were
almost perfectly suited for the Rebel Alliance.
Furthermore, Incom’s nationalization and poor treatment by the Imperial military-industrial
complex made its corporate leadership sympathetic to the Rebel cause.
With the clandestine support of the Incom Corporation, the Alliance was given the prototype
models and technical specifications for the T-65 X-Wing.
A single-seat fighter, its near perfect balance of speed, protection and firepower, combined
with its onboard hyperdrive, made the X-Wing one of the most highly respected in military
history.
Armed with a nascent fleet of T-65s, but the ability to produce more, it would become the
defining symbol of both the Alliance Starfighter Corps and the Rebellion as a whole.
The deployment of X-Wings brought a new range of capabilities to the Starfighter Corps,
and proved especially competent during the Battle of Scarif against its primary rival,
the TIE/LN starfighter.
It was the destruction of the DS-1 Orbital Battlestation however, that truly cemented
the Rebellion as a credible force and truly invigorated its pilots.
In a victory over Yavin 4, said to have been guided by the will of the force itself, a
depleted and ragged force of 22 X-Wings and 8 Y-Wings, still recovering from the Battle
of Scarif, were able to miraculously destroy the single greatest concentration of Imperial
power in the galaxy.
Although any purported supernatural element can most likely be dismissed as misidentification
by weary pilots and overzealous Alliance propaganda, this victory was nevertheless, transformative
in scope.
No longer able to be dismissed as poor, underequipped fringe group, the Rebel Alliance attracted
renewed attention from the Imperial Military, but also a whole host of volunteer pilots.
In the space of a year, the Starfighter Corps dramatically expanded in both the overall
size and diversity of its forces.
New models of starfighters were acquired, and the deployment of previously obtained
equipment was made more viable.
One such craft was the RZ-1 A-Wing, which had been present in the Alliance’s inventory
since the Declaration of Rebellion.
An evolution of the Republic era Delta-7 Aetherspite, it was faster than even the vaunted Tie Intercepter,
but considered a particular challenge to fly.
With the induction of new pilots, came those willing to master the A-Wing, and following
the Battle of Yavin, it became a prominent fixture of the Starfighter Corps.
The A/SF-01 B-Wing starfighter followed a similar trajectory.
Exalted by Rebel analysts as one of the most heavily armed starfighters in the galaxy,
the B-Wing had been active only within a few rebel cells.
After Yavin and the continued consolidation of Rebel forces, the B-Wing began to be fielded
in greater numbers.
Rebel ingenuity and tactics would be again displayed during the Battle of Hoth, in which
modified T-47 airspeeders successfully brought down Imperial AT-ATs and protected the evacuation
of Rebel forces.
It was in the Battle of Endor however, one of the last battles of the Rebellion, that
the true potential of the Alliance Starfighter Corp was put into action.
In a moment that had once been unthinkable, a collection of former Rebel cells were unified
into a single armada, and in one great effort, destroyed the Second Death Star, ended the
reign of the Emperor, and set in motion the collapse of the Galactic Empire.
Nearly always outnumbered, underequipped and illsupplied, the Alliance Starfighter Corps
nevertheless displayed a suburb level of ability and maintained a high morale for the majority
of the galactic civil war.
This is in part due to the ability of Alliance Starfighter Command to adeptly recognize the
strengths and capabilities of their own forces, and their willingness to incentivize individual
initiative.
What began as a necessity for any decentralized organization, had the natural benefit of ensuring
gifted pilots rose to a place of authority and leadership.
Through the course of the war, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Wedge Antilles, Biggs Darklighter,
Horton Salm, Arvel Crynyd and a whole host of other pilots became not only war heroes
and legends, but instructors.
Through their experience, each was able to train or influence a new generation of pilots,
and likely more valuable than even the few dedicated flight schools the Rebellion was
able to establish on Farstey or Homon.
These pilots and others that achieved victory both over Endor and across the greater galaxy,
would fight a further series of battles before their eventual triumph, but from then on,
they would do so not as Rebels, but as citizens of the New Republic.