Jon Vander Jon " Dutch " Vander was a male human pilot from Onderon who first served in the Galactic Empire ' s Imperial Navy before defecting to the rebellion . By 2 BBY , he served as the leader of Gold Squadron , a squadron made up of BTL Y - wing light bombers , with the rank of captain . In this role , he was instrumental in escorting the fugitive Senator Mon Mothma safely to Dantooine , where the Alliance to Restore the Republic would be formed . With the outbreak of the Galactic Civil War , Vander fought with his squadron in the battles of Scarif , where his leadership contributed to the destruction of the Shield Gate , and Yavin , by which time he had become a quadruple ace . Here , however , he would be killed while attempting a trench run on the Death Star battle station , shot down by the Sith Lord Darth Vader . Biography . Early life . A male human from the planet Onderon , Jon Vander was an Imperial pilot in the Imperial Navy . Onderon was a destabilized , war - torn world because of the militant insurgency of Saw Gerrera ' s Partisans ; however , when Vander was ordered to bomb pro - rebel areas on his homeworld , he refused , instead defecting to the rebellion against the Empire . Working with the rebellion . By 2 BBY , Vander had joined the nascent rebellion , becoming the flight leader of the Gold Squadron rebel cell , which flew BTL - A4 Y - wing light bombers . They protected rebel convoys and attacked a few soft Imperial targets . At this time , Senator Mon Mothma , who was secretly involved in the rebellion , delivered a fiery speech on the HoloNet denouncing Galactic Emperor Sheev Palpatine for his role in the Ghorman Massacre . As a result , Mothma was branded a traitor and forced to flee her homeworld of Chandrila . Gold Squadron took on the duty of protecting the former Senator and escorting her ship " Chandrila Mistress " to Dantooine , where they planned to rendezvous with other rebel cells . First , however , they met up with elements of Phoenix Cell for refueling of the Senator ' s transport . Vander and Gold Two , as well as Mothma ' s aide Erskin Semaj and met Phoenix Leader Hera Syndulla and her cell known as the Spectres . Despite butting heads with Hera ' s underlings Ezra Bridger , Garazeb Orrelios , and the astromech droid Chopper over the sensitive nature of the mission , Vander allowed Ezra to fly a Y - wing after the pilot Gold Two was wounded during an Imperial attack . Vander and Gold Squadron used their ion cannon s to disable an " Arquitens " - class command cruiser before bombing it . They also formed a defensive perimeter around Mon Mothma ' s shuttle which gave the rebel leader and her crew enough time to board Hera ' s ship " Ghost " and escape to hyperspace . Captain Syndulla suggested an old smuggler ' s route through the Archeon Nebula to escape the Lothal sector undetected . However , this tactic was deduced by Grand Admiral Thrawn , and he deployed two " Imperial I " - class Star Destroyers , as well as an experimental TIE / D Defender starfighter piloted by the ace pilot Commander Vult Skerris , to defeat them and take the Senator into Imperial custody . Although the TIE Defender took down his entire squadron save for himself and Bridger , the two cooperated to first defeat Skerris through their mounted ion cannon s . After defeating Skerris , Vander warned Ezra that the seasoned TIE pilot would return . They later exited the Archeon Nebula only to find the " Ghost " being drawn into the tractor beam of one of the Imperial Star Destroyers . At Hera ' s command , Vander and Ezra fired their proton torpedo es into the Archeon Nebula , igniting the gas and triggering an inferno that engulfed the two Star Destroyers . The rebels then took the opportunity to safely escape to Dantooine . There , Captain Vander , Gold Two and the other rebels were present when Mon Mothma gave an impassioned speech urging the galaxy to rise up in rebellion against the Empire . Shortly later , a rebel fleet emerged from hyperspace and the Alliance to Restore the Republic was formed . Galactic Civil War . Battle of Scarif . Eventually , Vander and his squadron would be stationed at the Alliance ' s secret Base One on Yavin 4 , the fourth moon of Yavin , he flew " Gold One " , often with his astromech , R2 - BHD . Vander and Gold Squadron , along with Blue , Green , and Red Squadrons , departed from the Rebel base to accompany Admiral Raddus in his support of the Rogue One team in their attempt to steal the technical readouts of the planet - destroying Death Star battle station . Assisting in the space battle as Raddus ' fleet attacked the Shield Gate orbital station , Vander and Gold Squadron conducted several attack runs on the Shield Gate , utilizing proton bombs in an effort to weaken the shield . After sustaining casualties , they were redirected by Raddus against the flotilla of Star Destroyers . Vander gave the order to take advantage of an opening in Imperial defenses , and he and four of his wing mates swooped into position to attack . The Gold Squadron pilots launched ion torpedo es at one of the destroyers , disabling it and allowing it to be rammed by a " Sphyrna " - class corvette , the " Lightmaker " . Colliding with another Star Destroyer as well as the Shield Gate , this disabled the deflector shield and allowed the plans on the ground to be successfully transmitted from the Citadel Tower to the " Profundity " , and eventually , the " Tantive IV " . Battle of Yavin . Vander would live to survive Scarif , and would return to Yavin 4 . By this time , he had reached the status of quadruple ace , with twenty - two confirmed kills and 19 , 997 logged flight hours . After the plans for the Death Star were returned by the " Millennium Falcon " , Alliance High Command was able to pinpoint Galen Erso ' s weakness in the plans , a small thermal exhaust port leading directly to the main reactor , and decided that their best chance to exploit it would be through small starfighters , using proton torpedo es to target the shaft . Vander attended General Jan Dodonna ' s pre - flight briefing as the Death Star approached to destroy the base . Visibly skeptical of their chances , he interrupted Dodonna by asking " Pardon me for asking , sir , but what good are snub - fighter s going to be against " that " ? " and then later gave Prince ss Leia a look of concern when Dodonna mentioned that the exhaust port was only two meter s wide . Despite his reservations , he would again lead Gold Squadron ' s eight Y - wing force in the Battle of Yavin . During the battle , three of Gold Squadron ' s Y - wings separated from the main force , making up the first group that would fly into the Death Star ' s meridian trench in an attempt to knock out the exhaust port and destroy the station . Vander was on point , followed by Davish " Pops " Krail ( Gold Five ) and fellow Onderonian Dex Tiree ( Gold Two ) , who formed a buffer against enemy fighters . In the face of the station ' s turbolaser batteries , Vander ordered his group to switch their deflector shield s to double - front ; however , this would have the adverse effect of leaving them vulnerable from behind . As Tiree was locking his targeting computer , he was shot down by Darth Vader ' s TIE Advanced x1 . This caused Vander to panic as he was unable to maneuver in the tight space ; Krail tried to keep him calm but to no avail . A second later Vader fired into Vander ' s Y - wing , killing him instantly . Personality and traits . Jon Vander was a human male with light - color ed skin and brown eye s . While piloting his Y - wing , " Gold One " , Vander wore a orange flight suit and a white K - 22995 flight helmet . As Gold Leader , Jon Vander took care of his squadron mates . During a dangerous mission through the Archeon pass , Vander also became a mentor to the younger rebel pilot Ezra Bridger . He was also familiar with starfighter defensive tactics . Despite his earlier disagreement with the Spectres for their aggressive tactics and drawing the Empire ' s attention , he came to respect Phoenix Leader Hera Syndulla for her valor and creativity . Though Jon Vander showed skepticism at times , most prevalent when questioning General Dodonna on the feasibility of the Death Star trench run , he also exhibited a calm and collected demeanor when he felt in control of the situation , as he did at Scarif and during the early stages of Yavin , as well as bravery in taking down a Star Destroyer and leading his squadron down the trench in face of heavy turbolaser fire . However , he also panicked when met with a rapidly intensifying and deteriorating situation , and this , as well as the tight formations he chose for his bombers at both Scarif and Yavin , proved to be his downfall . Behind the scenes . Jon Vander was portrayed in 1977 ' s by Canadian actor Angus MacInnes ; MacInnes would later appear as Vander in 2016 ' s " " through a combination of archival footage and new lines recorded by MacInnes . Vander is voiced by Yuri Lowenthal in " Star Wars Rebels " . In the now - Legends Expanded Universe , there was considerable debate over his nickname . The enunciation of Gold Five ' s line referring to his squadron mates Tiree and Dutch was unclear , and many fans perceived him to be saying " Hutch " instead of " Dutch " . In addition to this , Gold Five referred to Gold Leader and Gold Two , but the film did not specify which was Hutch / Dutch and which was Tiree . Although Vander ' s identity was eventually confirmed as the Gold Leader character , several sources used both " Hutch " and " Dutch " , and the confusion would not be resolved until 2014 with the confirmation of " Dutch " .