CT What do all the different insignias and symbols on the rebel pilot helmets mean?

Watching ANH and I'm wondering what all the many different symbols and insignia on the rebel pilots helmets during the battle of Yavin mean. Only a few has the symbol of the rebel alliance, most have other kinds of strange symbols.

Is it because the rebellion is more individualistic and diverse than the empire so pilots can wear helmets with symbols representing their home planet or other expression of their identity? Or is the rebellion just so poor they scrap any helmet they could find from all over the Galaxy?

Also why exactly do star pilots need helmets?

 

I'd guess star pilots wear helmets for the same reasons our jet fighter pilots do here on Earth.

I wrote an in-depth essay last year about that, so I guess I just paste it here:

Head or Tail - are Sabine Wren’s depictions of the Alliance bird in Rebels accurate… and what does the bird and the other artwork on Rebel pilots’ helmets really stand for?

Undoubtedly, the Rebels’ Mandalorian character Sabine Wren’s artwork must be somewhat familiar to audiences in Japan, because the “starbird” she sprays on solar fins of TIE fighters bears resemblance to the bird Japan Airlines (JAL) sprays on its passenger jet planes (and last but not least the insignia of the Star Bird toy MB electronics manufactured in the late 1970’s).

All these depictions have one thing in common, i.e. that the head and neck of the bird rests above its body with wings. But is that really what the creator of the bird logo, historic costume designer and expert John Mollo (according to Star Wars Costumes – The Original Trilogy, page # 66), had intended, especially since the “head” seen on the real Rebel pilots’ helmets in the Original Trilogy rather looks like a tail with feathers?

The photo of Luke Skywalker in his Rebel pilot gear from the (then) popular Star Wars Storybook depicts the bird with a tiny but rather important variation, quite possibly left behind by Mr. Mollo as a deliberate clue (relying that the most photographed Rebel flight suit and helmet would be the one of Luke Skywalker), helping viewers to understand the basic design: A white dot decorated the tip of the left wing and exactly in the spot where one might expect the eye of the bird if this were its neck and not just a wing. Despite its artistic abstraction, it looks like the neck with the head covers / obscures the left wing and the center part is, indeed, the tail (see image on top).

In Earth’s history and heraldry a popular bird with its head above the wings is the eagle which is a renowned symbol of both power and strength since the Roman Empire (which is why the USA adopted it in 1782 for the Great Seal of the United States and France’s Napoleon in 1804 for the Eagle Standards carried into battle).

But a pacifist entity would probably not choose a bird of prey; and the bird on Rebel helmets reveals a tail but apparently not a head (rather reminiscent of allusions to the Ostrich Effect, supposedly rather burying its head in the sand than to confront danger). Yet, the bird no longer flees ‘south’ but has lifted his neck and head to turn around - to make a stand and to fight?!

According to Star Wars Costumes – The Original Trilogy John Mollo’s original premise had been that each ‘individual’ helmet design was unique and personally linked to its wearer.

Yet, starting with the ice hangar Rebel pilot assembly scene in The Empire Strikes Back, this premise must have changed, because several pilots were carrying the (previously) individual helmets of Red Leader/Dave, Red Six/Porkins, Red Twelve (now Wedge’s gunner Jason), Gold Leader/Dutch (now Hobbie, according to production still) and Gold Two/Tiree, who had all died in A New Hope.

And in Return of the Jedi the helmet of Gold Leader was visible next to one X-wing fighter pilot during the briefing room scene but worn in the space battle by an African American X-wing fighter pilot.

Therefore many helmets with motifs must present a broader common theme. Fan speculation suggests that the individual helmets could represent flight squadrons, but the sheer amount of individual helmets already present at the Battle of Yavin would then suggest at least eight different squadrons (yet only Gold and Red Squadron are definitely known to have taken part in the battle).

Please note: Only the helmets of Luke, Porkins, Tiree and the (otherwise blank) helmets in the briefing room and hangar on Yavin IV featured the bird pictogram. But the one emblem every Rebel pilot helmed featured was a circle with seven lines running through it (either at the front and back of the helmet’s ridge or on both its sides) in A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and (partially) Return of the Jedi! Perhaps one should examine first what this circle with seven lines cannot be:

• In Return of the Jedi only the X-wing fighter pilot helmets featured the circle with lines, yet it can’t be exclusively linked to the X-Wing pilots because already the Y-Wing pilots in A New Hope and the snowspeeder pilots in The Empire Strikes Back had it on their helmets, too.
• It can’t be a squadron insignia because different squadrons had it on their helmets, too.
• It can’t be the symbol of the Rebel base on Yavin IV because by the time of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi this base no longer exists.
• It can’t be the symbol for a campaign because neither Luke or Biggs had the time between their departure from Tatooine and their arrival at the Yavin IV base to participate in one (yet the other pictograms on some helmet sides could be such campaign logos)

It then rather seems fair to assume that the circle with seven lines is the official insignia of either the Imperial Senate’s starfighters[1] and/or the Alliance to Restore the Republic[2] but not the bird logo!

Again, given the bird’s posture and resemblance to a dove, the symbol for peace, it then rather looks as if the bird is “the crest of Alderaan”, explicitly mentioned in the original Dave Prowse dialogue during the strangulation scene aboard Leia’s consular ship (but over”voiced” by James Earl Jones). This would indicate that Porkins (Red Six) and Tiree (Gold) were either of Alderaanian origin or sympathized with Alderaan.

Luke might have gotten his helmet from Princess Leia as an affectionate gift (she piloted the Y-Wing to the rendezvous point on Tatooine in Return of the Jedi, proving her able skills as a pilot!) and merely added his “national” Tatooine colors (black and yellow) at the front tip of his helmet’s ridge.

The general idea that the individual motifs represent nationalities can’t be that farfetched, because the black and yellow motif on Biggs’ helmet carries strong allusions to a racing sports chequered flag. Considering that Tatooine is known in the Outer Rim for its skyhopper and pod racing events, the allusion seems more than appropriate and fits. Gold Leader’s helmet displays a motif that seems to resemble a chequered flag and/or a star chart. The famous Kessel Run is supposedly mostly a challenge for navigation, thus there is a high possibility that this motif represents Kessel, equally notorious for its Imperial penalty camp and spice mines.

Since Han Solo’s nationality is Corellian, it’s fair to assume that the insignia on his helmet he let Luke use for his lightsaber training is somehow associated to Corellia, probably from his days in the Imperial service before he went “Wookiee”. The female pilot in Return of the Jedi attending the briefing ("Dorovio Bold") would therefore probably be of Corellian origin, too.

Trying to identify the other individual helmets is entirely conjectural. Assuming that the helmets featured in A New Hope can only represent planets “known” at the time of screenplay writing, the remaining candidates would be Bestine[1], Commenor[2] and Dantooine (while the five “Fire Rings of Fornax” probably refer to a celestial phenomenon or the real cluster of galaxies but not a planet).

Most “blank” helmets at the Yavin base in A New Hope featured the bird symbol in blue. Upon the Falcon crew arrival, the commander-in-chief of the Alliance Forces, General Willard, said to Leia that they had heard what had happened to Alderaan. Thus, it’s quite possible that the crest of Alderaan was quickly added to many helmets as an expression of anger and/or mourning for the millions of victims and eventually turned from a prominent blue (sadness) to a more aggressive red (anger) by the time of The Empire Strikes Back.

Conclusion: The visual evidence suggests that the bird was not the mandatory insignia of the Rebel Alliance before the destruction of Alderaan, but added to many helmets following Alderaan’s destruction - and thus became synonymous with the original Alliance insignia (probably the circle with seven lines)


[1] the Return of the Jedi novelization indicated the skyhopper to be of “Bestinian” origin - which would make Bestine the home of the Incom Corporation, manufacturer of skyhoppers and X-wing fighters among others
[2]a planet Solo once had been to where he traded his “sense of chivalry” “for a ten-carat chrysopaz and three bottles of good brandy” five years earlier, according to the New Hope novelization, page # 121

[1] after the dissolution of the Imperial Senate in A New Hope, possibly following a heated debate about Lord Vader’s attack on the consular ship of Alderaan, this symbol would have lost its meaning and could explain why it no longer showed up on many other Alliance pilot helmets in Return of the Jedi.
[2] pronounced as such in Leia’s message to Ben Kenobi in the revised 4th screenplay draft, March 15, 1976

 

I guess Dave's helmet (Red Leader) is one of my favorites. It looks like a political statement, i.e. the imperial insignia crushed and deformed like roadkill.

 

The V insignia are kills I think gray dot is 10 yellow dot is 20 and red dot is 50.

The yellow starbird (Porkins' helmet) is the symbol for the Tierfon Yellow Aces (As seen on Capt. Dosmit Reah's helmet in TFA that Rey puts on briefly)

Other than that I think it is mainly individual things for each pilot. I believe they were able to have family crests, home planet names, etc on one side of their helmet (right) and their name on the other (left)

This is all based on questions I have asked as I am currently trying to find a helmet so I can make a replica of the one worn in Lost Stars by Thane Kyrell. It is not described which gives me creative freedom but I want to be within regulations.

I hope this helps you.

 

The "V"s do resemble the pictogram chosen for the Death Star in the Yavin IV war room ("target"), I concur with the basic theory, but I'm not certain about the details. Since Luke can't possibly have that many kills, yet, I'm confident his helmet was a gift from Leia.

 

I believe that yes the helmet wasn't his during Yavin but during the next 3 years before Hoth we don't know how many kills he could have gotten so in ESB and ROTJ he might have had those many kills.

I am just basing it on what I asked about the insignia for building my helmet.

 

Rey Porkins confirmed

 

LoL no I don't think she is related to Porkins. She just put the helmet on that belonged to a member of the Tierfon Yellow Aces. We see it briefly in TFA.

 

How about a picture of it?

Apparently it goes all the way back to the days before the Battle of Endor, still featuring the original Alliance insignia on the helmet's ridge (the seven original rebellion cells?).

 

The Yellow Starbird is the Symbol. Porkin's helmet has a Yellow Starbird on it.

 

Thane_Kyrell wrote

The Yellow Starbird is the Symbol [for the Alliance]

And based on what exactly? Widespread popular belief and assumption?

The majority of pilot helmets both in ANH and ESB does not feature the bird.

And by the time of ROJ, not a single pilot seen participating during the Battle of Endor wears a helmet with the "starbird" symbol!

 

Plenty do though:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Rebel_Alliance_starbird

Combined with it being extremely common in the Resistance, and the fact that the New Republic symbol in the newcanon incorporates the starbird:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/New_Republic

and it seems fairly logical that the starbird was the standard, even if not all pilots chose to use it.

 

The symbol for the Tierfon Yellow Aces is the Yellow Starbird.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tierfon_Yellow_Aces

The Red or Blue Starbird were the common ones on the helmets.

Porkins had the yellow starbird on his helmet and as shown above so did the helmet worn by Rey in The Force Awakens.

 

I absolutely agree that it (finally) has become an offical insignia in the ST, which nevertheless doesn't necessarily imply that the bird had ever been the official insignia of the Alliance by OT / CT standards, especially given its dwindling popularity by the time of ROJ.

The interesting detail is that after all the Rebel scenes had been shot, Lucas filmed the scenes aboard the Tantive IV last and hat Dave Prowse say "This ship carries the crest of Alderaan". Had the same line been spoken by James Earl Jones, I'm certain that people would have asked him "So what does the crest of Alderaan" look like? And I'm confident he would have replied "Like the bird on Luke's helmet".

That the bird represents a dove (and therefore a symbol of peace - "Alderaan is peaceful") doesn't look like a coincidence, given various similar dove symbols on the worldwide web (where the necks and heads nevertheless do not overlap the wing like in the bird symbol on Luke's helmet):