Chronological Debuts of Starfighters

Hopefully I can help out the Fleet Junkies on this.

The first chronological appearance of the A-Wing was, I think, in the Droids cartoon, known then as the R-22 Spearhead. EU sources states that Dodonna based the A-Wing on the design of the R-22 and retrofitted several R-22's as early prototypes.

I think that the first chronological appearance of the B-Wing was in X-Wing: B-Wing. Strikeforce Shantipole happens shortly thereafter, I think. (Or maybe it's the other way around.)

The Y-Wing was developed several years prior to Yavin. (Maybe even longer, I don't know about this.) The X-Wing developed shortly thereafter.

The TIE Fighters were mass produced based on the T.I.E fighter used during the Clone Wars, which may or may note be based upon, or may actually be, (ROTS SPOILER) the new Jedi starfighter. Presumably the Bomber was mass produced at the same time. Both Vehicle Essential Guides imply that the TIE Interceptor wasn't developed until after Yavin, as the Advanced x1 served as the design prototype for that model. (Don't ask me how this explains their appearance in pre-Yavin EU sources, cause I don't know.) The "Avenger" TIE Advanced and TIE Defender were developed after Hoth.

The Z-95 predates all of these designs by a good many years. (I don't know the exact number, but I'm pretty sure it's near the triple digits.) The Howlrunner and the A-9 were developed around the time of "Dark Empire".

That's all I know about. Hopefully it's of some use. I'm sure a more established Fleet Junkie can be of help.

 

Yeah, the A-wing was introduced incrementally, the ones we see in X-wing lacked the jamming gear and the rotating lasers, but they had on-board astromech computers and concussion missiles.

The Z-95 was an OLD fighter, though I'm not sure about triple digits. They did release multiple models over the years though, the later ones were more X-wing-like.

Y-wings were a venerable design by the time of ANH, my guess is more than 10 years, probably 20-40 years old.

TIE bombers were new-ish around the time of ANH, many Star Destroyers still carried the TIE/GT instead.

 

I think X-wing gives us the debut of the A-wing shortly before Yavin. I'd have to go and check, but I think the opening scroll of the first tour tells us about the newly designed A-wing. You fly it on a scouting mission quite early on, too.

>>"Y-wings were a venerable design by the time of ANH, my guess is more than 10 years, probably 20-40 years old."<<

Callista and whats-his-name flew one during the mission to the Moonflower Nebula, x years before Yavin.

My notes on Republic starfighters put the debut of the new Jedi ship at 30.5 ABG - we see Anakin and Ben with the Delta-7 in the Rendili arc, but with the new ones in Obsession (and in A New Threat, to boot). Not sure when the ARC-170 debuts, but it's safe to say that one of the Torrent's first uses is at Muunilinst (at Kamino, Obi-Wan says that the Clones don't have any fighters yet).

I'll contribute a bit more later, when I've got my notes to hand.

 

According to the OS Databank, a few Torrent units saw action at Geonosis.

 

Prototypes, thankfully. Otherwise we'd have Seinar designing fighters for the clones...fighters that they don't need!

Still, I hadn't spotted that - seems my Republic fighter timeline needs an update.

 

IIRC, a limited number of E-wing units saw action in the latter part of the Thrawn campaign. Obviously none are actually mentioned in The Thrawn Trilogy, but I think it was retconned after the fact.

--Adm. Nick

 

Z-95 was fifty years old at the time of Planet Of Twilight; so it was introduced about 5 years before the Battle Of Naboo.

Strangely, there were a few A-9s in the background in one the X-wing comics. I remember this clearly, but I can't find it.

 

Don't forget that museums were buying Z-95 Headhunter by the time of the Bacta War.

 

Z-95 was fifty years old at the time of Planet Of Twilight; so it was introduced about 5 years before the Battle Of Naboo.

there was a Holonet news article from 22 BBY that mentioned that the Headhunters were being discontinued, so can we settle on the production run of the various incarnations of the Z-95 Headhunter being roughly 37 BBY-22 BBY?

 

Yeah, I saw those A-9s in the X-wing comics too. My guess is that a few squadrons must have defected to the NR during the post-Endor chaos, but that the A-9 was never a very popular design. It was still new enough (and seen in big enough quantities for the first time) that it was remarkable in DE.

 

I have a bit of a problem accepting the Z-95 debuting only 5 years BBNaboo. The Starfighter Trap story featured the Z-95AF3 as being the newest design on Z-95, meaning the only design made between TPM and AOTC is the Z-95AF4 [the type seen in EGV and the XW/TIE games]. That I can handle. But that also means that all the other variants of Z-95s [Mk1, Mk2, I3, ML, AF3] were made over a period of just 5 years, whereas I was under the impression the new variants were introduced over long periods of time. May just be a misimpression I'm hung up on, though.

 

Incom must have been taken over by an airspeeder tycoon during that time, and he still had the automotive mentality of putting out a new model every year.

 

there was a Holonet news article from 22 BBY that mentioned that the Headhunters were being discontinued, so can we settle on the production run of the various incarnations of the Z-95 Headhunter being roughly 37 BBY-22 BBY?

That Holonet article just said that the Incom-Subpro partnership was over and AF-4 was the last variant they produced together. I think Z-95 stayed in production after that. This explains how they're still around as far in the future as NJO. Perhaps fringe elements or Hutts continued to make them.

 

I think that the first chronological appearance of the B-Wing was in X-Wing: B-Wing. Strikeforce Shantipole happens shortly thereafter, I think. (Or maybe it's the other way around.)

Chronologically, Shantipole is first. It deals with the Verpine asteroid that they're developed on by "Commander" Ackbar (he's promoted to General because of his work on the Shantipole project)...

 

Promoted to admiral, dp4m.

--Adm. Nick

 

Promoted to admiral, dp4m.

Yes. I'm real tired. Played too much poker over the last two days...

 

The2ndQuest, yes it said the design was 50 years old.

 

(Grabs deck of cards and deals out hand of Texas Hold'em)

I can relate dp4m. A big part of my college experience is playing alot of poker with friends.

--Adm. Nick

 

I used to have both the X-wing and Tie fighter games for the mac and i played them alot, I remember that shantipole mission and it was interesting because I always crashed into the top of the hangar with my B-wing as I was leaving the ship, and strangely whenever I got the explosion noice and some wierd static thing I always smelt soemthing like burnt wiring, it was very weird, I can't explain it to this day excpet for the possibility of the adrenalin ******* with my brain or something like that, it also happened during various combat missions and when I ejected. weird ha?

 

what is a TIE/GT? can i mabye get a picture

 

The TIE/GT is a ground targeting version of the standard Tie fighter, it was used during the ANH era and before that to pinpoint targets for bomber version of the Regular Tie Fighter; these have slung underneath them either: Bombs, proton torpedoes, or concussion missiles, also possibly heavy rockets. Both of these ships were eventually mostly supplanted by the Tie bomber, which has its own targeting system and a much heavier payload.

Oh, and I don't know how to post links, just look up Tie/gt on google and you will find images and links to information about it.

 

Overall, they're mostly similar in appearance to the regular TIE Fighter.

 

Okay . . .

Bacta War comments Headhunters, while obsolete, are still in wide usage. Like the CloakShape, it is so modifiable its lifespan is extensive. Seti Ashgad created them "50yrs ago" from Planet of Twilight, 9yrs after Endor.

If Y-wings appear in ROTS, then that will answer that.

EGVV says the X-wing was an Incon design, but they gave it to the Rebels. So it's safe to say these designs take a few years to conceive; a few yrs before Yavin

Dodonna had already made the A-wing as of Yavin, according to Bacta War, so they were around before that. Maybe just no in widespread use.

E-wings fought against Thrawn, many sources say that. So they may have been created at leats a year before.

K-wings . . . NEGVV says they fought in every major conflict of the NJO. Doesn't mean they were created 12yrs after Endor; books are conceived and penned up to 2yrs before their publication date at times, certianly for SW. SBS was finished before VP came out, as Troy Denning said himself.

There was a T.I.E progenitor to the regular TIE fighter too. The Carrack was at least 30yrs old, so they had to have fought in the CW; Lancers came out after Yavin, so did SSDs.

Note: there are several models of Y-wings, B-wings and A-wings, not just the many X-wing variants.