Green Wing

While the term "Green Wing" could refer to the entire Green Squadron, the Rebel Alliance RZ-1 A-wing interceptor unit, it was specifically the comm-net identifier assigned to a male pilot who served as the second-in-command of Green Squadron under Green Leader Arvel Crynyd during 4 ABY.

Following the acquisition of intelligence regarding a second Death Star in the Endor system by Bothan spies, which was then delivered to Alliance High Command, Chief of State Mon Mothma declared her intention to assault the Death Star while it was still under construction—and while Emperor Palpatine, the head of the Galactic Empire, was present on the space station. A Rebel fleet, including Green Wing and his fellow squadron members, led by the Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar from the Mon Calamari Star Cruiser Home One, would attack the Death Star while an Alliance assault team, under the command of General Han Solo, would attempt to destroy the shield generator on Endor responsible for maintaining the Death Star's protective shield.

Upon emerging from hyperspace, Green Wing and the Alliance Fleet discovered that the Death Star's shield was still active, and that the Imperial Navy, spearheaded by the Star Dreadnought Executor, was lying in wait. As the two fleets clashed, the Rebels realized that the Death Star's superlaser was operational when it obliterated the Star Cruiser Liberty. Lando Calrissian, as Gold Leader and commander of the Rebel starfighter forces aboard the YT-1300 light freighter Millennium Falcon, determined that the Alliance Fleet had no chance against a fully-operational Death Star. He informed Ackbar that their best chance for survival was to engage the Imperial Star Destroyers at close range while they waited for the shield generator protecting the battlestation to be destroyed.

During the unfolding battle, Green Wing piloted his craft alongside Lando Calrissian, Red Squadron Commander Wedge Antilles, and Blue Squadron Leader Merrick Simms in an assault on the Empire's primary communications vessel, which was interfering with the Alliance Fleet's sensors, preventing them from determining whether the Death Star's shield was still up. Although a Rebel cruiser had damaged the communications ship, the Imperial destroyer had destroyed its attacker, and its crew had started repairs. Knowing that the Imperial warship could become fully operational if they did not attack immediately, the Rebel pilots moved to intercept their target, flying in a way that made them nearly invisible to the communications ship's crew.

Calrissian instructed Green Wing and the rest of the group to maximize their forward deflector shields, while Antilles, flying his T-65 X-wing starfighter, led the team in tightening their formation and diving toward the destroyer's axis at a ninety-degree angle before leveling out slightly more than fifteen meters above the ship's hull and cruising along to reach their target. They immediately came under fire from the warship's batteries, and before he could coordinate the attack with the other fighters, Green Wing's starfighter was struck by enemy fire. With his starfighter critically damaged and about to explode, he intentionally crashed his craft into the communications ship's forward weapons. The ensuing explosion tore through the destroyer's port side.

Green Wing's sacrifice allowed the three pilots to enter the communications ship's cargo bay, where its main reactors were located. The trio successfully struck the power generators, and the resulting explosions destroyed the destroyer. Calrissian and Antilles managed to escape the inferno, but Simms did not, as the shock wave seized his fighter and threw it into the hull of a smaller Imperial warship, which was then also destroyed. With the communications ship eliminated, the Imperials' jamming of the Rebel Fleet ceased, but they were horrified to discover that the deflector shield surrounding the Death Star was still active. Eventually, Solo's strike team destroyed the shield generator bunker on Endor, which enabled Calrissian and Antilles to lead Rebel fighters into the Death Star's superstructure and destroy its main reactor, destroying the battlestation and securing an Alliance victory.

Green Wing was a Rebel pilot who acted as Arvel Crynyd's second-in-command within Green Squadron. As the squadron's second-in-command, he took on a leadership position within the squadron. During the Battle of Endor, Green Wing joined Calrissian, Antilles, and Simms in attacking the Imperial communications ship. During their attack run, enemy fire severely damaged Green Wing's fighter, but he regained enough control to guide it into the communications ship's forward batteries, sacrificing himself. This action created a hole in the destroyer's hull, allowing the other three pilots to navigate their craft into the warship's interior and eventually destroy the destroyer, eliminating the Imperials' jamming of the Rebel Fleet and ultimately giving the Rebels an advantage in the rest of the battle.

This otherwise-unnamed pilot, identified by his squadron call sign "Green Wing," made his first brief appearance in the 1983 novelization of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, where he is depicted participating in a Rebel assault on the Imperial communications ship during the Battle of Endor. Although this character did not appear in the film, he was included in all three editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, the Star Wars Encyclopedia published in 1998, and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia published in 2008. The original A Guide to the Star Wars Universe confirmed that this pilot was male, a detail not mentioned in the novelization.

In the Return of the Jedi novelization, another character with the designation "Green Wing" appears during the final assault on the Star Dreadnought Executor near the end of the Battle of Endor, after the first Green Wing's death. This second Green Wing plays a somewhat significant role, accompanying Green Leader in attacking the bridge of the Imperial flagship. His single line of dialogue, along with the surrounding text, suggests that his proton torpedoes, rather than Green Leader's suicidal maneuver depicted in the film, caused the destruction of the Executor's bridge.