Re: Battlestar Fighter Squadrons

Bryn Monnery wrote:

> I thought it was "Silver Spar", but thought it made no sense, "Silver
Star"
> seemed more appropriate, so I just left it. During one of the early
episodes
> (the 3rd one) Apollo and Starbuck attack a Basestar on their own as
various
> colours that they make up. Personally, I don't think there is any
coherency
> in the numbers of Vipers the Galactica carries, it appears to be
around a
> score from most episodes, but occassionally skyrockets.
>

The episode to which you refer is actually part of the series pilot.  In
it,
Apollo comes up with a plan to scare the Cylons aboard the base star by
having
both he and Starbuck pretending to be two squadrons each.  Starbuck
later
"forwards" a request for Purple and Orange Squadrons to join the fight. 
On the
bridge of the Galactica, these transmissions are received, but the
bridge crew
is puzzled only by the mention of Purple and Orange squadrons, which
seems to
suggest that Yellow and Green do indeed exist.	As for the maximum
number of
ships that a Battlestar may carry, it can carry at least 67 fighters, as
that's
what was recovered by the Galactica after the destruction of the rest of
the
fleet.	I would guess they can probably carry more than that, since the
Colonials seem to have suffered huge losses among fighters as well as
Battlestars, and very few got off their base ships besides the Galactica
(however I do agree with you that the number does seem to change from
episode to
episode).

Mark

>
> > > Do we have a good feel for how large a BG squadron is? I had the
> > feeling they were as large as two or three FT squadrons. <
>
> I've seen a squadron formed up several times (i.e. they kept using the
same
> footage). It looks like 4 vigs of 3, which, worryingly, is dumb
British
> early WW2 tactics.
>
> Basically, I just think that a squadron was whatever the scriptwriter
of the
> week wanted it to be. Just don't get me started on B5 ship numbers
(240
> Omegas? Right.....)
>
> Bryn