I think he just realized one against three (with all three dead on his ass) was piss-poor odds and bailed.
Well concidering this is the Rebs we are talking about, nothing ever gets said about the economics of the rebellion. How do they buy their torpedos or concussion missiles, x wings, y wings etc.
I can seriously believe that they only had something like 20 or so torpedos, and that y wing was set up as a command and control bird with heavy ECM. In just under a day to get thirty effectives up in the air, I can see them cutting some corners.
Declan
In otherwords he was an experienced pro and bugged out when the situation called for it.
Declan
There’s a fanwank that the ion cannons on the Y-Wings were largely notoperational, and the lone Y-Wing we see right before the Great Space Kablooey of Yavin was the only Y-Wing with operational ion cannons.
Sure, I’m only pointing out that there are no on-screen reasons for him to not have torpedoes.
In the novel (where the Y-wings are Red squadron, and the X-wings, including Luke are Blue), BTW, it says “This second loss proved even to much for Red Five to take. He manipulated controls and his ship commenced rising in a slow curve out of the trench.”
The original ending to Star Wars was for Porkins to fly right at the camera and say “Buddeeb budeeb buddeeb that’s all folks!”, but Lucas couldn’t get the rights cleared.
Does the first person to mention Jar Jar in a Star Wars thread automatically lose? 
Th-th-th-thats all folks.
That happened in post #2.
I actually watched this again yesterday. Porkins does not have a chinstrap at all and Gold 5 is the one who is flying with the chin strap dangling. So it may just be a lack of disapline in the Rebel fighter corps (or a one-size-fits-all mentality in the costume department).
His chinstrap is there. Look at this Pic. You can see it resting on the right side of the photo. The black strap is laying over the cord to his mic.
A friend of mine was refueling his F-15 over Afghanistan, but didn’t know there was an AF General watching from the observation window of the tanker. My friend’s commander later got a call from the general’s staff about my friend not wearing his flight gloves, having his sleeves rolled up, oxygen mask down and his chin strap undone. I guess it’s good no one knew about the MP3 player spliced into the comm system.
My point is some aircrew button every button and truly “dress for egress”, while other are more willing to risk burns and other ejection injuries in the name of comfort. So the undone straps in SW don’t bother me. I think it has more to do with wardrobe issues than real world precedent, though.
Does Star Wars canon ever explain why Porkins and compatriots had to fly down the ‘trench’ for about a minute before launching their torpedo? It has always seemed like an overly dramatic way to approach a target that is basically a vertical tube going down to the innards of a spherical space station. The torpedo is launched and then has to do a 90 deg turn on top of the target.
Or would I be better off posing this question to an actor at a Star Wars convention?
I don’t know if it was covered on film in that depth.
Having to pull up sharply after release implies that the target is in some type of area with many obstructions to line of sight, line of fire. I would assume it might be under an “overhang”, preventing a shot from directly “above”.
The briefing did mention it was “ray shielded”, necessitating torpedoes. I don’t know if this affected tactics beyond weapon loadout.
Well, I don’t think Lucas was feeling too badly about his supposed “indelicacy.” After all, Lucas cast the actor who played Porkins as Major Eaton in Raiders. Think about that for a sec. Major Eaton. Major Eatin’? Major Eating? I’m sensing a trend here.
And why shouldn’t Lucas make cheap puns about his go-to “imposingly bulky and heavyset” actor? It takes all kinds.
Some AF craft fly at 9,999 feet just to avoid the obligation to wear oxygen masks. Shortcuts are made where than can be taken, and usually not noticed.
As far as I can see, drama is the only reason for it. I also wonder why one of the team didn’t get themselves set up, then turn saround backwards to fire at the damned TIE fighters – it seems as if X-Wings and Y-Wings have absolutely no rear weapons or even shielding!
Of course, it could just be the roots of the situation. Read my Teemings article from many years back:
Dammit! I just hoarked up my chips!
From that link, I just learned that the actor who played Biggs is named Garrick Hagon, a name that demands that one hold the governments of the Earth hostage with an orbital death ray.
Fanwanking an answer isn’t terribly hard. The shaft they are trying to shoot into is too small to get a good lock on until you are within a few hundred meters. Flying straight at the sphere to get the shot would force you to crash into it, unable to pull up in time.
With the trench protecting you from most of the Death Star’s defensive weapons, you’re better to find a place where the Death Star’s defenses are weakest, fly in and enter the trench at that place, and then follow it until you get within firing range of the shaft.
Love it… Could’ve been a Mad Magazine “Scenes We’d Like To See!” (Anyone remember those?)