It is tough to comprehend the amount of iconography that has arisen out of the Star Wars franchise over the past forty-plus years of its existence, with the fantasy space opera having a place at the heart of the pop culture zeitgeist for all that time. Since war is in the title, and it is in space, many memorable and iconic ships have come out of the franchise.
In terms of just basic, common starfighters, there are few ships, if any, that are as recognizable and beloved as the classic X-wing, a staple of Star Wars for over four decades, and one with a rich history and detail that most fans are not fully aware of.
Incom Corporation & Incom-FreiTek
There is so much in Star Wars that many people do not think about. Before the prequels, there was politics which no mainstream fan really thought about; on top of that, there is stuff like smuggling, local police, local politics, businesses, racketeering, and more.
There are also huge corporations producing things that allow them to profit from the war, like how DJ presents in The Last Jedi. In the days of the Galactic Civil War, Incom Corporation produced the ARC-170 Starfighter, later producing its spiritual successor, the T-65B X-wing starfighter, and its subsequent models. In the age of the New Republic, Incom reformed into Incom-FreiTek, producing new X-wing models for the New Republic.
The Models
There were at least eighteen models of X-wing starfighters in the Legends timeline, with subtle or huge changes to the original and most popular model. In canon thus far, there are six true distinct models.
These are the T-65B X-wing, B-class X-wing, Patrol X-wing, T-65C-A2 X-wing, T-70 X-wing, and the T-85 X-wing. The Patrol, T-65, and T-65C-A2 were all used in the Galactic Civil War by the rebels, while the other three were of the New Republic Era. The New Republic ships were upgrades of the original models, with the different models having small changes such as the variety of their role, size, speed, and armament.
The Prices
War can also be a business, and ships cost money, which the rebellion or the New Republic or Resistance had to pay.
The T-65B X-wing cost around 150,000 Imperial credits brand new and around 65,000 Imperial credits used. The New Republic step-up from this ship, the T-70 X-wing produced by Incom FreiTek, cost around 200,000 credits new and 110,000 used. Upgrading once more to the T-85 X-wing, which cost 220,000 credits new and 140,000 used. To put that in some sort of perspective, according to the 2015 reference book Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need To Know, the first Death Star cost over one trillion credits.
The Size & Speed
Focusing on the main three X-Wings, the T-65B sits at 13.4m long, 11.76m wide, and 2.4m deep, weighing ten metric tons and going at a max acceleration of 3,700 G (G-force, the force acting on a body of gravity) a max atmospheric speed of 1,050 kph, and one hundred MGLT (Megalight per hour, the relative sunlight speed in realspace).
The T-70 has the same width but a shorter length and depth/height of 12.49m and 1.92m compared to the T-65B. It goes 50 more kph, 10 more MGLT, and with 100 more G-force. Upgrading one more, the T-85 is by far the biggest, at 15.68m long, 13.65m wide, and 2.7m deep. The T-85's speed is again, by far, the most impressive at 3,800 G, 120 MGLT, and 1,300 kph max atmospheric speed. All of this information is available in the Rebel Starfighters Owners' Workshop Manual.
T-65B Is The Canon Standard Of X-Wing But Not The Most Standard Starfighter
In the Legends timeline, the most standard X-wing is the classic T-65 X-wing model; in canon, the standard does go by the T-65 but is officially known as the T-65B X-wing, with the B existing in Legends as a modification of the T-65, not the same ship as it is in canon.
Many people believe the T-65B to be the most standard/common rebel starfighter due to how iconic it is, but it is actually the BTL-Y-Wing, which is the most common rebel starfighter, due to its multitude of purposes compared to other fighters.
Superiority Fighters
There is a starfighter class that was much more commonly used in Legends to this point, called the space superiority fighter, which are ships, by Legends definitions, that work against both starfighters and larger starships.
The T-65C-A2 is known as a space superiority fighter model in canon, seen at the Battle of Scarif. However, the T-65B also can also be known as a superiority fighter, with the status of the other models all unknown in that regard, with the term not the most important classification in canon to this point.
Operation Buckler
X-wings have been seen all over the Star Wars franchise, performing in battles across every medium from movies to comics to games. One purpose many fans do not know X-wings that were used for was undercover operations.
Operation Buckler, led by Garven Dries (AKA Red Leader), saw the rebels pose as pirates by painting the exteriors of X-wings in two distinctive variants to steal Y-wings. It was a successful mission.
Supposed To Be Crux Of Imperial Navy
TIE Fighters are right up there with the X-wing in terms of iconography, with the sounds of the ships alone surpassing those of the X-wing. However, the TIE line almost never came to be for the Empire.
Originally, the X-wing series was meant to be the backbone of the Imperial Navy. However, politics got in the way, and the more affordable TIE series from Sienar Fleet Systems became the norm for the Empire, allowing the X-wings to fall into rebel hands.
T-70 & T-85 Original Canon Creations
As mentioned earlier, there were eighteen different X-wing variations in the Legends timeline, stretching far beyond the years of the Galactic Civil War. Despite so many different ships, though, neither of the New Republic standard X-wings comes from Legends.
The T-70 and T-85 are original canon creations, with the likes of Poe Dameron's X-wing being the commonly used T-70 model. The T-85, in fact, has only ever appeared on-screen, clearly anyway, in Star Wars: Resistance, as well as a couple of books and comics set around that same time.
X-Wing's At The Battle Of Yavin Were Initially Meant To Be Blue Squadron
The most iconic X-wing sequence to this day remains the trench run from A New Hope in which Luke Skywalker destroys the first Death Star. Only two of twenty-two X-wings survived that battle, Luke's and Wedge Antilles'.
The most iconic pilots from the scene are Red Squadron, Red Leader (Garven Dreis), Red Two (Wedge Antilles), Red Three Biggs Darklighter, Red Four (John D. Branon), Red Five (Luke Skywalker), Red Six (Jek Porkins), Red Seven (Elyhek Rue), Red Eight (Zal Dinnes), Red Nine (Nozzo Naytaan), Red Ten (Theron Nett), Red Eleven (Ralo Surrel), and Red Twelve (Puck Naeco).
However, these pilots were originally meant to be a part of Blue Squadron, with the Y-wings being Red Squadron as seen in the Legends promotional novel Star Wars: From The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker, but due to the lack of technological advancement in terms of the blue screen, when the movie came around, X-wings were made Red Squadron and Y-wings were changed to Gold Squadron.