Early on, in The Star Wars Sketchbook, Joe Johnston had established that Y-wings were outdated, hot-rodded craft from yesteryear, but little was actually known about when they were in their prime. 1998’s Incredible Cross Sections showed what they looked like before the Rebellion stripped off the armor off of them. The armor was fairly simple and wrapped around the familiar T-shaped body in an intuitive way. It was an interesting glimpse into the past, but that was as far as it went. The book stopped short of saying where they came from.
In 2008, Lucasfilm began its The Clone Wars multimedia project. It was a massive effort, beginning with an animated feature film, and the franchise’s most ambitious television series to date. Different entries in the project illustrated right away that the Republic was the original home of the Y-wing.
Artist Russell G. Chong led the design effort for the Republic Y-wing. He had new ideas for the Y-wing’s fabled body armor, giving it sleek lines that swooped across the whole body, enclosing large areas that were previously negative space. The engines were fully enclosed and extended further. Chong also re-instituted the bubble gunner from the original Colin Cantwell concept model, and it would thus become a two-seat craft.
After the development of the BTL-B for The Clone Wars, the Incredible Cross Sections‘ armored Y-wing generally disappeared, though it made occasional appearances in the years that followed.
Initially, the Y-wing was conceived of having three seats. Having a crew aboard one ship that could interact amongst themselves was considered for the ship’s appearance onscreen, but this did not last. As the production of Star Wars continued, the Y-wing became a one seater.
1978 saw the release of both Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (the first Expanded Universe novel ever), and the infamous Holiday Special. Unlike the X-wing, the Y-wing’s turret and long canopy created the not-unreasonable idea that someone else could sit behind the pilot seat. Having a two-seater Y-wing meant that C-3PO could join these adventures.
In 1987, The Star Wars Sourcebook recognized the existence of these two different cockpit layouts made some technical distinctions: the one-seater was now the “BTL-A4” and the two-seater was the “BTL-S3”. Two-seaters continued into the 90s, appearing in stories like the comics for Shadows of the Empire and Rogue Squadron. In 2001, the Customizable Card Game attributed certain Rebel pilots from the Endor briefing to be Y-wing gunners, which functionally “added” BTL-S3s to Return of the Jedi (at least, in the context of Legends). The original Battlefront I and II games had the BTL-S3B, distinguished by having turrets with blasters instead of ion cannons. The Galaxies expansion Jump to Lightspeed included the BTL-S3 as its “standard” Y-wing, alongside the BTL-A4 LP “Longprobe”, a pairing that had been used in tabletop gaming for years. The BTL-S3 has made a few appearances in the current Disney canon, mostly in the Poe Dameron comics.
Blueprints: Rebel Edition and Haynes’ Rebel Starfighter Owner’s Workshop Manual both show three different Y-wing cockpit arrangements: single seater, two seater (rear facing gunner), and two seater (forward facing gunner/passenger). The last two are of course BTL-S3 types, the rear facing seat was described in the original 1987 RPG sourcebook, later used in the comic books for Rogue Squadron, Poe Dameron, and Weapon of the Jedi. The forward facing seat was first seen in the Holiday Special. The Splinter of the Mind’s Eye comic adaptation also used this style, which was unclear from the original novel. Blueprints unusually refers to this arrangement as a BTL-S3t.
The X-wings of The Force Awakens (and then the A-wings of The Last Jedi) begged the question of what a Sequel-era Y-wing would look like. To scratch the itch, fan artists created many concepts of “future” Y-wings throughout the second half of the 2010s.
During production of The Rise of Skywalker, the film’s production designer Kevin Jenkins created a ZBrush sculpt of a Resistance Y-wing, designed with Cantwell and McQuarrie in mind. His initial draft used the Special Edition body as a placeholder, though it was surrounded by some of the new body shaping that altered its silhouette. The head and engines were brand new, and changed only a little in the final design.
After Jenkins presented Y-wings as a means to widen the compliment of the Resistance fleet, JJ Abrams approved immediately. After a few years of anticipation, the original trilogy Y-wing now had its successor: the BTA-NR2.
The final design broadcasted its influences loud and clear. The creased sides of the NR2’s head and the resulting football-shaped mouth was cued by Cantwell’s 1975 design. The sloped turret tower that sat behind the canopy evoked Joe Johnston’s sketches. Eventually, Oliver van der Vijver, (the film’s Action Vehicles Art Director) gave Zorii Bliss’ NR2 a red livery as a call-back to the original pre-Gold Squadron Y-wing, Red Jammer. A key shot of the NR2 in the film was framed just like one of McQuarrie’s classic paintings. From concept to film, the BTA-NR2 positively bursts with allusions to the concept Y-wings that have been venerated through the decades.
In-universe, Koensayr Manufacturing was at some point either succeeded by or transformed into Consolidated Koensayr Manufacturing & Holdings. The ship’s role in bringing down the Empire presented them with an opportunity they sought to commodify. Their answer was to restart the line from scratch with the BTA-NR2 Y-wing. The standard model was built without armor paneling, and intended to be more like the ones flown by the Rebellion, instead of the Republic. While CKM&H made this decision explicitly for its aesthetic appeal, the Rebels had of course originally left the armor off for technical reasons. As for the ship’s profile, virtually every proportion changed. The engine cages were much longer, while the engines themselves were shorter. The head was bigger, but it was on a shorter neck. The addition of some fluid lines and ported domes gave it a futuristic edge.
BTL-S3 Y-wings were often written into stories when a single seat fighter was too small to carry an adventure, and the Millennium Falcon or something similar did not apply. Occasionally, when a handful of characters had to get somewhere, even the extra seat that the BTL-S3 offered was still not be enough.
Marvel Star Wars 49: “The Last Jedi” in 1981 had a “modified” Y-wing. In actuality, it was just drawn at about double or triple the normal size in order to have a proportionately larger cabin. Stylistically, it borrowed a lot from the Joe Johnston sketches. It had room for Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, C-3PO, R2-D2 and new companions Denid and Jedidiah. It was spacious enough for Denid and Leia to stand far behind Luke at the helm, and for Jedidiah and C-3PO to spar. To reach the canopy from the ground, one panel showed an impressively tall nineteen rung ladder. In 1983, another unique Y-wing was shown in Marvel Star Wars 78: “Hoth Stuff!”. This one appeared to have four seats, and carried Skywalker, Organa, and fellow Rebel Barlon Hightower. This Y-wing also drew a lot from Johnston’s design, but scaled up the center fuselage significantly. In 1987, The Star Wars Sourcebook mentioned rare and uniquely modified “Courier” Y-wings. The one seen in Marvel Star Wars 49 was eventually considered to be one such example.
The Jedi Prince young readers series that started in 1992 also had a Courier in it, shown in illustrations. It carried Luke, Ken, Chip, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Chewbacca. To have enough room, the head and canopy stretched back over where the neck would be on a standard Y-wing. Access to the cabin was through a folding ramp on the head’s side, rather than through the canopy. In 2005, the graphic compilation Visionaries included the story “Entrenched”, which told the Battle of Hoth from the perspective of a Rebel trooper trying to flee the Empire’s victory. A Courier makes an appearance, and once again looks very different from before: red and white fairing styled like an x-wing, and a chunky downward sloping head that sat mostly lower than the fuselage. So low in fact, that there was enough height clearance to support a doorway and ramp accessible at the back of the head. 2007’s Starships of the Galaxy: Saga Edition sourcebook considered the Courier Y-wings to be modified BTL-S3s, with room for a pilot, gunner, and three passengers.
The Courier Y-wing has not yet appeared in the new Disney canon, but re-introduction of the craft would have to compete with the more famous and distinctive U-wing for many of the roles it could be used for.
In 2001, Lucasarts and Ensemble Studios created Galactic Battlegrounds, a Star Wars-flavored take on Ensemble’s popular Age of Empires strategy games. Battlegrounds put all of its factions on nearly identical tactical footing. They differed only by some faction bonuses and a few faction-specific units that ranged from snowspeeders to droidekas to fambaa shield generators. Because of the breadth of things players could build, every team had some amount of new units designed specifically to equalize the factions. This also meant that the dynamics between the different armies differed greatly compared to the movies. The Phantom Menace showed that the Naboo were a peaceful people that had only a small defense force and no standing army on hand to counter the Trade Federation. Not only did Battlegrounds militarize them into being on par with their Gungan neighbors and the Trade Federation, they now challenged even the Imperial war machine as well as those of the Republic and Confederacy in the game’s 2002 expansion Clone Campaigns.
As players progress through the game, their vehicles evolve, with the starfighter and bomber classes having three stages each. Other than the Empire’s starfighters (which were all pre-existing designs), other factions had to fill in the blanks in their air forces. The Y-wing was one such subject. Lucasarts and Ensemble needed three different degrees of the Y-wing for the Rebels’ Bomber, Enh Bomber, and Adv Bomber units. The film-style Y-wings were slotted in as the middle tier, but with a livery that covered more of the body. This made its team allegiance more legible upon the small in-game sprite. With this as the mid-point, the new Light and Heavy Y-wings were created to fill the roles above and below it.
The Light Y-wing didn’t even have two forward guns, it had just one. The rear window doesn’t stand at full height and steps down like a hatch-back. The body was shorter in length, but chubbier in width, as if it was a chibi version of itself. The engine cages were shortened significantly, and stand just behind the engine nacelles. The engines themselves are quite small.
The Heavy Y-wing was massive, and sprawled out more than any other bomber in the game. Like the other late-game structures and vehicles, it showed the apex of the Rebel faction’s advancement. Like Battlegrounds’ Imperial Heavy TIE Bomber and TIE Interdictor/Punisher, the Heavy Y-wing’s design multiplied an element of itself in order to convey power. While the Empire added more weapon pods to their bombers, the Rebels added another pair of engines onto their Heavy Y-wing. It did not seem to appear to carry an astromech, similar its heavy bomber cousins the B-wing and K-wing.
In 2001, Lucasarts and Ensemble Studios created Galactic Battlegrounds, a Star Wars-flavored take on Ensemble’s popular Age of Empires strategy games. Battlegrounds put all of its factions on nearly identical tactical footing. They differed only by some faction bonuses and a few faction-specific units that ranged from snowspeeders to droidekas to fambaa shield generators. Because of the breadth of things players could build, every team had some amount of new units designed specifically to equalize the factions. This also meant that the dynamics between the different armies differed greatly compared to the movies. The Phantom Menace showed that the Naboo were a peaceful people that had only a small defense force and no standing army on hand to counter the Trade Federation. Not only did Battlegrounds militarize them into being on par with their Gungan neighbors and the Trade Federation, they now challenged even the Imperial war machine as well as those of the Republic and Confederacy in the game’s 2002 expansion Clone Campaigns.
As players progress through the game, their vehicles evolve, with the starfighter and bomber classes having three stages each. Other than the Empire’s starfighters (which were all pre-existing designs), other factions had to fill in the blanks in their air forces. The Y-wing was one such subject. Lucasarts and Ensemble needed three different degrees of the Y-wing for the Rebels’ Bomber, Enh Bomber, and Adv Bomber units. The film-style Y-wings were slotted in as the middle tier, but with a livery that covered more of the body. This made its team allegiance more legible upon the small in-game sprite. With this as the mid-point, the new Light and Heavy Y-wings were created to fill the roles above and below it.
The Light Y-wing didn’t even have two forward guns, it had just one. The rear window doesn’t stand at full height and steps down like a hatch-back. The body was shorter in length, but chubbier in width, as if it was a chibi version of itself. The engine cages were shortened significantly, and stand just behind the engine nacelles. The engines themselves are quite small.
The Heavy Y-wing was massive, and sprawled out more than any other bomber in the game. Like the other late-game structures and vehicles, it showed the apex of the Rebel faction’s advancement. Like Battlegrounds’ Imperial Heavy TIE Bomber and TIE Interdictor/Punisher, the Heavy Y-wing’s design multiplied an element of itself in order to convey power. While the Empire added more weapon pods to their bombers, the Rebels added another pair of engines onto their Heavy Y-wing. It did not seem to appear to carry an astromech, similar its heavy bomber cousins the B-wing and K-wing.
In the US, Marvel began its monthly Star Wars comics series beginning in April 1977, a month before the premier of Star Wars itself. The following year, they began releasing weekly comics in the UK as well, which were a mix of reprints, previously shelved stories, and original material. One of these original stories was “World of Fire!”, which was told across issues 107-109 in March 1980. The story began with two Rebels, Wadie Firestone and Arlo Tyre, who were investigating the deadly planet of Alashan. After Tyre is killed in action, Firestone attempts to escape in his ship, which is described as a “souped-up, ‘Y’-wing Scout-Fighter”. It only survives for a few panels before being destroyed. It was clearly influenced by Joe Johnston’s sketches, but with a thicker fuselage and a longer, skinnier neck. Like Johnston’s version, there were three holes at the rear of the body. The penciller for this story arc, Carmine Infantino, drew them as if they were additional engines. No other Y-wing uses this configuration. Nothing like the “‘Y’-wing scout-fighter” would be used again for several years.
In 1987, the Star Wars RPG was released. It was the densest and most taxonomic exploration into the Star Wars setting up to that point. Ships enjoyed a lot of new background information like their model names, tactical uses, and technical specs. The Rules Companion followed in 1989, in which the “Y-wing (Recon)” was introduced. This type was created as a stand-in for the specs that Y-wings had in the original RPG sourcebook and the Star Warriors space combat system. The Rules Companion also had its own “standard” Y-wing alongside the Recon model.
The name “Longprobe” was introduced in 1990’s Rebel Alliance Sourcebook to describe recon Y-wings. Sources differed as to whether this was an interchangeable name for all BTL-A4s, or if the Longprobe was a sub-model. The latter would eventually win out as the consensus explanation. The Longprobe’s appearances in The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, 1994’s Screen Entertainment computer program, and 1998’s Rebellion strategy game all depicted the Longprobe as indistinguishable from the film-used BTL-A4s in terms of shape. In an effort to contrast them from the common gold livery used on its other Y-wings, Rebellion used a new green livery for its “Longprobe Y-wing Recon Team” units. Hasbro used this green livery in 2008 when they re-released the Y-wing in its Titanium die-cast toy line. This was not meant to make their Y-wing into a Longprobe; the packaging’s description still reads like that of a standard Y-wing.
Galaxies’ Jump to Lightspeed starship expansion was launched in 2004, and included the Longprobe as a flyable starship in what remains the ship’s most significant appearance ever. The Longprobe was mentioned sparingly after that. It wasn’t part of the new Disney canon for several years, until it was described in the ongoing Star Wars Encyclopedia in its November 13, 2020 installment. Once again designated as the BTL-A4 LP (with the “Longprobe” nickname in tow) its reconnaissance role continues, but its physical appearance remains unknown.
In 1981, Kenner Toys bolstered their Star Wars action figure line with Minirigs, a new series of vehicles. Minirigs used the design language of ships seen in the films, but at a smaller (and more affordable) scale. Often times, they just large enough to hold a figure. According to the team at Kenner, these vehicles were “just off-screen” from the action seen in theaters. After nine toys, the series concluded in 1984.
In 2011, a similar idea was used for the design of the Y-wing Scout Bomber. It had a handful of elements that called back to its namesake, most obviously the engine pods, the framed canopy, and a turret. It was packaged with “Warthog”, a clone pilot from Plo Koon’s 104th Battalion.
The Y-wing Scout Bomber’s introduction to the new canon was in 2015, when Hasbro brought it back for their Rebels merchandise. To suit the new series, it was painted differently, and included Kanan Jarrus and C1-1OP “Chopper”.
So far, this design has yet to make any appearances outside of toy form.