Star Wars: Star Pilots Book Explains How Luke Skywalker Destroyed the Death Star

Every Star Wars fan remembers Luke Skywalker strapping into his X-wing to fight the Empire in his first run at the Death Star. Fans felt fear and excitement, then euphoria when he made the all-important shot. That shot set off one of the Rebellion’s first major victories.

Luke’s success has usually been credited to his use of the Force. Lucasfilm Publishing and DK Books have now shared an exclusive excerpt with Polygon from Dr. Chris Kempshall’s new book, Star Wars: Star Pilots. The excerpt confirms that Luke’s success came from more than his Force strength and flying skill.

Star Pilots reveals another reason Luke could blow up the Death Star

Kempshall takes the same grounded, real-world historical approach he used in his earlier book, Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. This time he examines Star Wars ships, weapons, and the psychology of warfare. Star Pilots gives a gritty, authentic account of fighting the Galactic Civil War from behind a starfighter’s controls.

Wedge Antilles narrates the book. He has been a fan-favorite Rebel ace since his first appearance in the original 1977 film. He offers insight through unreleased interviews and New Republic archive data.

The excerpt comes from Chapter 2, “Enlistment and Training.” In it, Antilles describes how enlistment differs between the Rebellion and the Empire. The most important information appears in the opening paragraphs. Antilles explains that Rebel Command wanted pilots to know a variety of starfighters before their first battle. They also had to pass several protocol checks to prove they weren’t Imperial spies.

Luke Skywalker was an exception. When he arrived on Yavin, the Rebellion had been caught off guard by the Death Star and needed all the help it could get. His Force ability mattered, but Antilles points to something else. Luke already knew a specific starfighter, the T-16 Skyhopper, and its manufacturer, Incom Corporation. A short passage from the excerpt follows:

“Luke was also fortunate in that he had some flying skill and experience already, though he was lucky that both the T-16 Skyhopper and the X-wing fighter were manufactured by Incom and, as a result, had similar control systems. If we’d made the attack against the Death Star in A-wings, Luke may not have been able to operate the fighter in combat to the degree necessary to ensure victory.”

Fans will remember that Luke built his skill with the T-16 Skyhopper by shooting womp rats from the airspeeder on Tatooine. That one-off line in A New Hope now carries far more weight than anyone expected.

DK Books has published a full 17-page excerpt of Star Pilots, which you can read on the original Polygon article.

Star Wars: Star Pilots by Dr. Chris Kempshall is now available for purchase.

Source: Polygon