The A-wings of Phoenix Squadron battled Darth Vader, but the Sith Lord was too skilled a pilot. He destroyed almost every ship in the fleet himself.

At the Battle of Endor, A-wings flown by pilots such as Arvel Crynyd – whose callsign was Green Leader – dueled with the Empire’s state-of-the art TIE interceptors. As the fastest starfighters in their respective fleets, A-wings and TIE interceptors raced around among the slower capital ships trading laser fire.

A-wings were originally envisioned as ideal for reconnaissance missions and intelligence-gathering duty, since their speed allowed them to survey enemy fleets or installations and retreat back into the safety of hyperspace before being intercepted. Alliance tacticians also imagined A-wings as capable escorts for less maneuverable transports and capital ships.

The A-wings of Green Squadron proved themselves in an unexpected way at Endor, however. With all Alliance craft engaging Star Destroyers in a desperate bid to buy time to bring down the Death Star’s shields, Green Squadron swarmed the Super Star Destroyer Executor, the mightiest ship in the Imperial fleet.

The Alliance attack brought down the mighty Executor’s bridge shields, and Crynyd saw the chance for a sacrifice that could help even the odds. With his fighter critically damaged, Green Leader took aim for the Executor’s defenseless bridge, crippling the massive battleship and sending her careening into the Death Star’s surface.

Other A-wing pilots joined Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles as they flew into the Death Star’s superstructure, navigating the labyrinth of tunnels between the surface and the main reactor at the battle station’s core.

A generation later, Resistance pilots such as Tallie Lintra flew a new A-wing model, the streamlined RZ-2, in battle against the First Order. Tallie’s skill as a pilot made her a perfect fit for the ultra-fast fighter, which she flew capably in defending Resistance bombers above D’Qar.