BTL-B Y-wing

# Description

The **BTL-B Y-wing** was a starfighter/bomber that was in service of the Galactic Republic during the Clone Wars. It was an early predecessor to the BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bomber flown by the Alliance to Restore the Republic decades later in the Galactic Civil War.

## History

BTL-B Y-wings were a mainstay in the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars, becoming an instrumental bomber in the fight against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Y-wings were notably used by Shadow Squadron during the attack on the Separatist heavy cruiser *Malevolence*. During the Battle of Ryloth, a squadron of Y-wings were used to break the blockade over Ryloth. As noted by AP-5, a Republic analyst droid who helped coordinate the campaign, Y-wings tended to be "a bit buggy" during atmospheric operations. Clone Captain CT-7567, however, knew the Y-wings to be solid in combat. The light bomber was used to drop an experimental electro-proton bomb on Separatist forces near the end of the Battle of Malastare, completely annihilating the droid army, as well as the being used to bombard entrenched Confederate gunners during the Second Battle of Geonosis.

## Behind the scenes

Designer Russell Chong spearheaded the ship's development. "The Y-wing was a really fun project, bringing it back fully faired," he says.

When Joe Johnston refined the Colin Cantwell and Ralph McQuarrie Rebel Alliance Y-wing designs for construction into a visual effects model for *Star Wars*: Episode IV *A New Hope*, he posited that the starship was once a sleek vessel that was chopped and stripped like a hot rod by Rebel Alliance technicians. The BTL-B is apparently the stock version of the "stripped-down" Rebel ships.

A version of the BTL-A4 Y-wing starfighter seen in the original trilogy reference book *Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections* depicts the "original" version of the starfighter encased in armor plating. While the concept jibes with the intent behind the BTL-B, the illustration provided in the book shows the craft with the traditional Y-wing shape and no bubble turret, unlike the "arrowhead" shape of the craft seen in the TV series.

According to Chong, "We back-engineered the Y-wing and turned it back into a bomber. I took images of the actual Y-wing model from the files at Lucasfilm and I designed our new version over it. We revitalized the bubble turret that Colin Cantwell and Ralph McQuarrie had developed. All the body panels are very much the same as the original Y-wing. I did my best to give it the same styling and the same look as the original Y-wing."

The early Cantwell concept models built of the Rebel Y-wing featured an immense bubble turret dome for a gunner to sit in. The limitations of bluescreen technology at the time made such a dome impractical. Concerning the original turret design, Chong states, "I didn't want to use the actual bubble turret with the single laser cannon in the original Ralph McQuarrie illustration because it was too bulky and interrupted the sleek lines of the ship so I opted for a more aerodynamic design similar to the WWII B-17 and B-25 top turret."

# Notes

1. ↑ Used examples can be obtained for 63,000 credits)
2. ↑ The appearances in Destroy *Malevolence*, Innocents of Ryloth, Legacy of Terror, Brain Invaders, Senate Murders, A Friend in Need and Secret Weapons were flashbacks

# Sources

1. ↑ Pablo Hidalgo comments on TheForce.net
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Star Wars The Clone Wars Episode Shadow of Malevolence
3. ↑ Star Wars The Clone Wars Episode Downfall of a Droid
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Databank - Y-wing Starfighter
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 The Clone Wars Campaign Guide
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 *Star Wars: The Clone Wars* (TV series)
7. ↑ Official Site preview
8. ↑ Star Wars Rebels episode The Forgotten Droid
9. ↑ Star Wars Rebels episode Steps Into Shadow
10. ↑ Star Wars The Clone Wars episode The Zillo Beast
11. ↑ Star Wars The Clone Wars episode Landing at Point Rain
12. ↑ Star Wars: Incredible Cross-Sections