During George Lucas’s childhood in the 1950s, World War II was still very much a part of popular culture despite being safely in the rearview mirror. Action heroes frequented the silver screen in large numbers, and none were more glamorous than fighter pilots. It’s easy to see how the war and the action flicks it spawned inspired the galactic dogfights of the Star Wars films. Here we match up Star Wars fighters with their WWII counterparts and their modern equivalents.
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Star Wars Dogfight
An X-Wing T-70 does battle with a TIE fighter in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
from http://www.popsci.com/from-wwii-to-long-ago-and-far-away-fighters-that-inspired-star-wars-and-their-modern-descendents
