Tribute to Jek Porkins

In Star Wars even characters that only appear a few seconds in a movie have a fully developed background in the Expanded Universe and often have adamant fans who worship them. This is the case of Jek Porkins, a pilot of the Red Squadron attacking the Death Star in Episode IV. Here's one of his two scenes (the first being him just saying "Red six"):



Despite his death, Porkins got somewhat elevated to the status of a legendary hero who died on the (space) battlefield. Some nerds suggested that Lucas hid the reason why Porkins exploded:



I can hold it!

Another version of his death is the following:



Jek Porkins was portrayed by the late William Hootkins, who also played "Lt. Max Eckhardt in Batman (1989), and Major Eaton, one of the army intelligence men appearing at the beginning and the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark", as stated on Wikipedia.

Porkins flies a starfighter (i.e. a spacecraft) named X-wing in the Star Wars universe. In 2007, the San Diego Tripoli Rocket Association built and launched a 23-foot-long X-wing model propelled by four rockets. Then, what if Porkins climbed in that X-wing fighter?



No, wait, here's what really happened:



That black starfighter is called "TIE fighter".