Idiot sci-fi question: Why do X-Wing fighters have…um…wings?

[SUBMAN1]

I was reading something, and found this question in an article. Maybe we can answer this question here! :D I can't give a good idea as to why, nor could I when I was 10 years old either. Maybe someone can enlighten me?

-S

[Tchocky]

Off the top of me head...

Reason - To look cool, and to give a catchy name

"Real" Reason - I think they were radiators for waste heat dissipation, they had to be open for blaster use, doubling surface area.

Also, didn't they fly in atmosphere at some point? This question could be kinda pointless, seeing as antigrav or some sort of VTOL was in effect.

[Rhodes]

To do atmosferic manovers in planets? or it's a good place to put laser canons... :hmm:

[joea]

They still needed to be aerodynamic even if they didn't need the wing's "lift." Note everything I've read is that TIE fighters could NOT fight in atmospheres.

[Ducimus]

All i know, is TIE means "Twin Ion Engine".

Why do X wings the way they are? Not a clue. I guess it just looked cool.

[SUBMAN1]

Well, since there is hardly anything scientific to be found in Star Wars, it's kind of an exercise in futility, but my theory is because it looks cool.

In my opinion however, the best best best Outer space sci fi still is the vulnerable 2001 a Space Odyssey. Nothing can touch it accuracy, such as no sound in space, etc. That was an accurate movie.

Anyway, Star Wars is still fun. I guess if I want to get closer to accuracy, then I need to go Star Trek, but still, that is a little bogus in cases too.

-S

[Ducimus]

Well, its not called Science-Fiction for nothing. ;)

[SUBMAN1]

Well, its not called Science-Fiction for nothing. ;):up:

I should add some background:

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/images/X-wing.jpgSo here’s the idiotic science fiction question for the week: Why do X-Wing fighters have wings?

Officially, “The wings not only serve as stabilizer surfaces in air travel, but also distribute deflector shield energy and serve as weapons mounts (http://www.starwars.com/databank/starship/xwing/).”

Poppycock.

Clearly, the wings have nothing to do with aerodynamics, as there is nothing aerodynamic about 99% of the vessels in the Star Wars universe, and almost everything short of the Death Star makes controlled landfall and takeoff. (Seriously, how does the Millennium Falcon do it? It’s a stunted frisbee! Eh, a question for another day…) As to the suggestion that the so-called “S-foils” are used to generate deflector shields, that doesn’t explain how the other fighters in the Rebel fleet create defensive energy screens (well, maybe the B-Wing). It just doesn’t add up.

Now, I grant you, looking for science in Star Wars is a largely a futile gesture (Parsecs are a unit of distance, not time!), but we can have fun trying, anyway. The Sci-Fi Apologist has an amusing wing-theory: The x-wings are really heat sinks for the high-powered laser cannons (http://www.nelsonguirado.com/index.php/comiendo/2006/12/01/sci_fi_apologist).

Cute, but I think we can do better. So, here’s your assignment, boys and girls: What’s the REAL reason X-Wing starfighters have wings? Let the theorizing begin!

[XabbaRus]

Wikipedia is really deficient in star wars' ship info.

also the TIE fight Twin Ion engine that gives great speed...hmmmmmm

As I understand it there are a few space probes out there that are using ion drive engines to get them to their targets. My understanding was that the thrust from these is gentle but constant not wham bam like a rocket, so should TIE fighters be really slow and unable to change direction quickly?

[Iron Budokan]

"That was an accurate movie."

Define accurate. Dust clouds billowed on the Moon. The drink in the straw in zero gravity fell back down. And this:

http://www.moviemistakes.com/film8

And this:

http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/gaffe.html

And this:

http://www.continuitycorner.com/Tfilm/00104.htm

There are many others but my point is made, I think. Anyway, it's all relative. And everyone knows the most accurate movie ever made is Plan 9 From Outer Space anyway! :P

[antikristuseke]

I was reading something, and found this question in an article. Maybe we can answer this question here! :D I can't give a good idea as to why, nor could I when I was 10 years old either. Maybe someone can enlighten me?

-S

If memory serves me correctly it was because the X-wing was allso suitabe for atmospheric combat and thats why it had wings, allso placing the weapons on the tips of the wings gave you abetter spread of firemaking hits a bit more likely in the high paced battles.

[FIREWALL]

The one with the best answer gets the title



















KING NERD the 1st. :rotfl:

[SUBMAN1]

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[kiwi_2005]

Also another one i heard - In space theres no air right so when a engine is burning fuel there should be no trails of smoke etc, showing from the engines exhaust, yet in alot of movies/games the crafts have smoke trails. :hmm:

[Onkel Neal]

All i know, is TIE means "Twin Ion Engine".

Why do X wings the way they are? Not a clue. I guess it just looked cool.

Yeah, exactly, and that coolness inspires confidence in the pilots, which is good since some of them came right off the farm. :know:

[Kazuaki Shimazaki II]

Clearly, the wings have nothing to do with aerodynamics, as there is nothing aerodynamic about 99% of the vessels in the Star Wars universe, and almost everything short of the Death Star makes controlled landfall and takeoff. (Seriously, how does the Millennium Falcon do it? It’s a stunted frisbee! Eh, a question for another day…)

With the raw power of SW engines, it is possible to make a brick fly through the air, and dissipate or withstand the friction heat with shields and uber-hulls. This does not equate that aerodynamics does not help.

As to the suggestion that the so-called “S-foils” are used to generate deflector shields, that doesn’t explain how the other fighters in the Rebel fleet create defensive energy screens (well, maybe the B-Wing). It just doesn’t add up.

That the X-Wing employed a certain technical solution to a common problem does not equate that other technical solutions are impossible.

Now, I grant you, looking for science in Star Wars is a largely a futile gesture (Parsecs are a unit of distance, not time!)

They actually retconned this one in the EU by saying that Han Solo, flying a difficult course and cutting corners, managed to reduce the total distance of a trip by what must have been a tiny fraction, just enough to get it under 12 parsecs of distance.

[joea]

Ok I was wrong about the TIE fighters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgF9hBL-CuA&NR=1

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

[SUBMAN1]

Well, here is what the rest of the world though about this question:

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/geekend/?p=522

-S

[fatty]

I recall from a few of the X-Wing novels that the wings served two purposes. First, in their deployed mode, they spread the cannons far enough apart that their high-powered discharges wouldn't damage each other. Second, they provided improved maneuverability during combat in atmosphere. Yes, with enough engines and repulsorlifts anything could fly, but not necessarily fly well. In one of the books they state that the TIE fighters lost all of the maneuverability advantages they had in the vacuum of space when fighting the skies, and the X-Wings were able to fly circles around them.

[TLAM Strike]

Fatty is on the right track.

I have about as much sim-flight time in X-Wings as some around here have in say F-16s etc so...

The S-Foils do four things.
1) Places the cannons away from each other and the hull so they don't damage the X-Wing.
2) Repulsors on each wing add to monuverablity in atmo. Think about an minature X-Wing hovering in mid air, push at the far end of one S-Foil and what happens compared to pushing near the engines. A repulsor at the end of the S-Foil has a more dramadic effect.
3) Heat disspation without compamizing atmospheric handeling, Eyeballs (TIE Fighters to you non-Starfight folk) have huge pannels to disspate heat, in atmo those pannels act like massive speedbreaks in turning manuvers forcing the pilot to bank and then turn. X-Wings don't simply because the S-Foils allow air to flow around them.
4) Weapons Placment. The cannon are farther away from center giving the pilot a bigger cone of fire.

[d@rk51d3]

I know that the TIE fighters "wings" were solar panels to charge weps and shields, probably something similar for the X-Wing too.:hmm:



I guess they couldn't really call it an X-Wing if it didn't have wings though.

[goldorak]

I was reading something, and found this question in an article. Maybe we can answer this question here! :D I can't give a good idea as to why, nor could I when I was 10 years old either. Maybe someone can enlighten me?

-S

No scientific explanation but an artistic one.
Lucas wanted to capture WW2 aerial dogfighting in Star Wars.
Just look at the movements of the x-wing fighters during the attack on the death star, the dives, the incoming flack, the tie fighters vs the x-wings its all reminescent of ww2 aerial dogfighting and bombing, think zeros against corsairs.
In private showings of early edits of the film he actually used real ww2 footage to convey the kind of combat in space he was aspiring to depict in the final film.
You shoud read the book : The making of Star Wars by J.W Rinzler.
It discusses the whole Star Wars project from the early seventies up until the release in 1977.