The A/SF-01 B-wing starfighter (also known as the Blade Wing or simply the B-Wing) was a Rebel single-pilot starfighter that saw action during the Galactic Civil War, having been developed as Project Shantipole.
Used by the Rebellion, The B-Wing was the Rebel's most powerful heavily-assault starfighter. It was designed to take on much larger Imperial capital ships, thus providing the Alliance fighters with the punch of capital ships at a fraction of the cost. Although only about four meters longer, the B-Wing had more firepower than many Imperial patrol ships
Description[]
The B-Wing was essentially a long, flat wing with a cockpit on one end. Two folding airfoils near the midpoint of the primary wing extend out for combat. The fighter had an unusual cockpit gyro-stabilization system that allowed the cockpit to remain stable while the rest of the ship rotates around it, significantly reducing stresses that result from sudden maneuvers. Unfortunately, this complex gyro-stabilizing system frequently broke down.
The B-Wing's advanced targeting computer links the performance of the ion cannons and proton-torpedo launchers, giving the ship maximum firepower against a single target, although the pilot could choose to fire between different targets. The pilot could choose to fire a low-power targeting laser to "tag" enemy ships. While this gave the pilot nearly perfect range and vector information, it also gave away the B-Wing's position.
In standard configuration, each secondary wing had one ion cannon, with a third ion cannon located at the base of the main wing along with a small bubble gunner section that could be occupied for multitasking and much more accurate main weapon fire. A pair of auto-blasters were in the nose of the cockpit module; technicians could opt to mount up to four auto-blasters in the nose section.
The prototype of the B-Wing featured an extremely high-power beam weapon that combined beams from the cockpit, gunner station, and both secondary wings into a focused blast powerful enough to destroy a patrol ship in one pass. This model only had 2 blaster, one on each secondary wing, to provide supplementary firepower, along with a single ion cannon at the gunner position on the other end of the main wing and a small reserve of torpedoes. Unfortunately, the beam weapon proved too problematic for mass production (among other issues, it would blow out any hyperdrive that was mounted on the fighter, necessitating that a second ship be used as a carrier), so it was removed in favor of additional blasters, ion cannons, and bombs for the final model. The separate gunner position was also removed. The prototype (shown above) was colored Red rather than the white/grey paint used on production models. While the production models had less firepower than the prototypes, they were still more powerful than any other fighter or bomber used by the rebellion.
Appearances[]
Season 2[]
- "Wings of the Master" (First appearance)
