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Description
The fastest starfighter in the original Star Wars trilogy was the RZ-1 A-wing interceptor, the only spacecraft capable of outrunning an Imperial TIE interceptor at sublight speeds. This little delta-wing fighter was designed by General Jan Dodonna and Walex Blissex, and built by the Rebel Alliance's own secret workshops with the help of defectors from X-wing manufacturer Incom. It was well armed with two laser cannons and two missile launchers, which gave it enough firepower to fight Imperial Star Destroyers. However, it was fragile, hard to fly, and prone to crashing in the hands of inexperienced pilots. During the Battle of Endor, Green leader Arvel Crynyd was shot down while attacking Imperial battleship Executor, but performed a suicide attack on the starship's bridge, causing it to lose control and crash into the second Death Star space station. Other A-wing pilots of note include Rogue Squadron X-wing aces Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu, who flew the A-wing on some special missions, and Shara Bey, mother of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, who will appear in The Force Awakens. This model of the A-wing was on display at the Shizuoka Hobby Show. Given its combination of speed and difficulty flying correctly, I would compare the A-wing to a real-life fighter plane, the appropriately-named American-built Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. To their credit, the Rebels never tried to turn the A-wing into a fighter-bomber gunship, as the B-wing and Y-wing fighters already performed quite well in those roles.

Description
The fastest starfighter in the original Star Wars trilogy was the RZ-1 A-wing interceptor, the only spacecraft capable of outrunning an Imperial TIE interceptor at sublight speeds. This little delta-wing fighter was designed by General Jan Dodonna and Walex Blissex, and built by the Rebel Alliance's own secret workshops with the help of defectors from X-wing manufacturer Incom. It was well armed with two laser cannons and two missile launchers, which gave it enough firepower to fight Imperial Star Destroyers. However, it was fragile, hard to fly, and prone to crashing in the hands of inexperienced pilots. During the Battle of Endor, Green leader Arvel Crynyd was shot down while attacking Imperial battleship Executor, but performed a suicide attack on the starship's bridge, causing it to lose control and crash into the second Death Star space station. Other A-wing pilots of note include Rogue Squadron X-wing aces Wedge Antilles and Tycho Celchu, who flew the A-wing on some special missions, and Shara Bey, mother of Resistance pilot Poe Dameron, who will appear in The Force Awakens. This model of the A-wing was on display at the Shizuoka Hobby Show. Given its combination of speed and difficulty flying correctly, I would compare the A-wing to a real-life fighter plane, the appropriately-named American-built Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. To their credit, the Rebels never tried to turn the A-wing into a fighter-bomber gunship, as the B-wing and Y-wing fighters already performed quite well in those roles.