Very few pilots did this…

Most join the Navy for experience, career, maybe personal glory and fortune. Even those who join out of love for the Empire, Republic or Rebellion will ultimately have enough close brushes with death and decide to take the promotion that retires them from fighter duty. Only a select special few will continue returning back to the cockpit long after their rank requires them to/ Today we take a look at the purest pilots of them all. The 1% who can't stay away from a good dogfight.

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[skyden]

Darth Vader, even though a Sith Lord and one of the Empire's highest-ranking members, continued to jump into the cockpit of his TIE-Advanced even during and after the Battle of Yavin as he was one of the greatest starfighter pilots ever in a Galaxy Far, Far Away.

[MBSill]

I don't think I've seen a single Generation Tech video that wasn't absolutely outstanding! Your wealth of information is mind-blowing, and you do a jam-up job presenting it! That's what puts your channel is light years ahead of the competition. You have a great talent for getting into the guts of the subject and keep it palatable for everyone. Thank you for all the hard work you do to bring this content to us. The Force is strong in this channel, and it shows! 🤘

[Randy-yfsv]

Star wars tends to use a combination of navy/air force style officer ranks for their star fighter corps. They aren't entirely part of the navy. They are their own branch

[Atalas]

and if you take Legends into account, Wedge only ever accepted a promotion because the rest of Rogue Squadron were refusing well-deserved promotions, even ones that would have kept them in the squadron. Even then, he continued to be a pilot first, even though he did have excellent flying skills even in old age, taking out two Yuuzhan Vong squadrons of coralskippers single-handedly during the battle of Borealis after the fall of Courscant when his shuttle was destroyed... and he did this with arthritis plaguing his joints! Going on to form a new squadron, fielding some old Rogue vets and some new people to face Jacen Solo's Rogue Squadron during the Darth Caedus conflict. He was in his 60s by this point, and still widely considered one of the best pilots in the galaxy, if not the best non-Force user pilot.

[baz]

So in Legends around 7.5 ABY after he helped capture Coruscant and took down a SSD with only 2 ISDs, like a few dozen modified light freighters, 2 starfighter squads, and some luck than commander Wedge was offered by Admiral Akbar the rank of general…still turned it down and made a bet with him too.

[MrFluffytheTurtle]

10:18 "probably shoulda went to burning man instead of dagobah" lmao

[nathanieljackson]

The average citizen would definitely work for the Empire, in spite of how authoritative the regime. Just imagine all of the disenfranchised planets that were crippled by the Clone Wars and then here comes the Empire promising law, order and most importantly food and shelter.
And then add on the possibility of being a pilot. For a mostly spacefaring society a starship pilot has got to be one of the best careers in the galaxy especially if you're experienced enough to fly multiple platforms.

[evanallen]

Shout out to the third survivor of the attack on the Death Star, big blonde Y-wing pilot, Evaan Verlaine, and the 12 of us who read the Princess of Alderaan comic.

[traviscruise]

Pilots had so much responsibility during their flights. Even more responsibility than tic tokers. Can you imagine?

[bryanyap]

Wedge was a general in legends though, which will always be canon to me. The NJO novels were a big part of my teenage years

[thephilosophyroom]

Less than 15 mins, woohoo! We love your work, Alan, keep it up! (As a political macroeconomics student, I particularly appreciate it!)

[zogar]

You never want your most talented individuals directly on the battle field. No matter how skilled, one person can only make so much of a difference.

You want you best training the rest. Rasing the skill level of your entire force. That is where an individual makes the biggest difference.

[violetlight]

This video suffers without mentioning Baron Soontir Fel and his equally talented TIE pilot kids, and Wedge's adventures in the X-Wing books. Vult Skerris in particular seems like a poor substitute for the Baron.

Just because The Mouse no longer considers them canon doesn't mean that you have to ignore them, Alan.

[matthewjay]

In the Rogue Squadron books, I remember Wedge refusing to allow himself to be promoted to General. Hr preferred to remain a commander.

[mikecharles]

i wish they would put Baron Fel into the new canon.

[nickvinsable]

🤔 . . . Are there any pilots who’re more analogous to _Crimson Skies_ ‘s Nathan Zachery of the Fortune Hunters? A commanding captain of a starship, but would rather jump into a starfighter cockpit & leads his forces accordingly & such?

[tcschenks]

Hera was made a General because that was the starfighter corps rank above Wing Commander. In the EU Wedge Antilles became a General too.

[RedXlV]

8:58 In Legends, Starfighter Command had a strange rank structure. It was mostly army/air force style, but with Commander instead of Lieutenant Colonel. And presumably due to the Rebel traditions in which the division of service branches was pretty vague (since their lack of resources meant infantry frequently had to double as starship crew when needed, and vice versa), once you got to flag officer ranks, you could frequently end up in command of a capital ship or a fleet despite not being a regular Navy officer. That's why you'd have Generals commanding ships.

And that's one of the things that's been copied in Disney Canon, apparently.

[Matt_in_TEXAS]

Love your breakdowns, love your storytelling, keep up the GREAT work- Love from TEXAS

[Template-generic]

I remember in Legends that all imperial naval officers were required at some point to go through a tour of duty in a TIE before getting promoted. Many of the more famous rebel pilots were actually graduates of this program.