88th Flight
During the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems' naval forces included a flight of starfighters known as the 88th Flight, which fought against the Galactic Republic. This flight, comprised of a minimum of three Vulture-class droid starfighters, was based on Skytop Station, situated on the second moon of the planet Ruusan. In 22 BBY, they battled Republic forces who boarded the station with the goal of rescuing the astromech droid R2-D2. During the Republic's mission, all three Vulture droids met their end. Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano took control of one within a station hangar, prompting a second to open fire on it. Tano then commandeered the second droid and destroyed its head. The third was eliminated when Anakin Skywalker, Tano's Jedi Master, used the Force to hurl a fuel canister at it, while Clone Captain Rex simultaneously fired upon it, causing an explosion that wiped out the remaining Separatist troops.
Behind the scenes
The 88th Flight initially appeared in the opening newsreel of "Ambush," the debut episode of the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was broadcast on October 3, 2008. A more extensive showing occurred in "Duel of the Droids," the seventh episode of the same season, which aired on November 14, 2008.
De Agostini's Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine, specifically issue fifty-six, identified the flight around January 27, 2016. Within Star Wars Legends continuity, the 88th Flight was first named on the 88th Flight Droid fighter card from the Clone Wars expansion for Topps' Star Wars PocketModel TCG trading card game, released on July 26, 2008.