The Star Wars Y-Wing Starfighter Has A Lot In Common With This WW2 Warplane

The starfighter battles in George Lucas' space opera "Star Wars" take inspiration from real-world aerial fights. Films such as "The Dam Busters" and "633 Squadron" were used as influences for the 1977 movie that started the "Star Wars" craze in "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope." Even the iconic ships themselves are based off of planes used during wartime, including the Y-Wing starfighter bombers.

The Y-wing was designed as a bulkier starfighter meant to withstand blasts and deal a large amount of damage. Used by the Rebels, Y-Wings were often modified from previous ship parts, which added to their toughness like their real-life counterpart, the P-47 Thunderbolt. The tough WWII plane may not look like the Y-Wing, but what they did have in common were their reliability, resiliency, and sturdiness.

While one of the best sci-fi vehicles of all time may arguably be the Millennium Falcon, the Y-Wing helped the Rebels save the galaxy multiple times as well. From the vehicle's first appearance in "A New Hope" in the Death Star trench run to the battle of Scarif in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story", Y-Wings provided much-needed support in fights. They had been used as bombers and packed a punch with proton torpedoes that were meant to destroy the Death Star.

It's clear that looking at photographs of the P-47 and futuristic Y-Wing, the two do not have anything in common when it comes to looks. The plane was simply used as inspiration to create the Y-Wing. One thing the two did both share is in how each was used. Both excelled at strafing tactics that saw each run back and forth attacking ground units before returning home with minimal damage in return.

If you want to experience the P-47 for yourself, you can see one on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. Meanwhile, viewing an actual-size Y-Wing may be a bit more difficult as the ones used in the films were miniatures. The starfighters were created by engineers at Industrial Light & Magic, George Lucas' production company. Each was a small-scale model of the ship that was shot on a blue screen. The process was led by modelmaker Colin Cantwell.

Cantwell was the key model maker for just about every ship featured in the original trilogy. He crafted prototypes starting in 1975, two years before the first film's release, using descriptions from Lucas. Cantwell's design of the Y-Wing was the basis for the art used in concept artist Ralph McQuarrie's art for "Star Wars". Meanwhile, he landed on the design for the X-Wing while at a British pub.

The movies focus a lot on the X-Wing fighter pilots, as hero Luke Skywalker was part of Red Squadron and flew an X-Wing. Though it's the Y-Wings and their leader who were meant to destroy the Death Star before they were shot down by Darth Vader. The fighter pilots who led the charge were commanded by Jon "Dutch" Vander, played by actor Angus McInnes.

McInnes played Gold Leader in "A New Hope" and was even brought back for an appearance as the same character in "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" many years later. The latter is set before the events of the fourth film and features McInnes as Gold Leader through the use of unused cockpit footage from the 1977 movie. New lines of dialogue were recorded for the 2016 film, while some of the dialogue was from the original movie.

"Star Wars" may be set in a galaxy far, far away, but it's a story inspired by past events. As for the future of the franchise, it does look quite promising with more Star Wars movies & TV shows in development. Legendary ships such as the Y-Wing could make another appearance to help the Rebel Alliance win another victory.