Jon "Dutch" Vander was one of the senior pilots for the Rebel Alliance's Specter Squadron at the Battle of Yavin.

He was trained at the Imperial Academy as a fighter pilot, but during one of his missions as a TIE Bomber pilot, he discovered the true nature of the Galactic Empire's ideals. He was ordered to bomb his home planet. He simulated a failure in his Bomber and aborted the mission. He managed to escape the Imperials and joined the Rebel Alliance. Jon got the nickname "Dutch" from his Rebel friends. He became Gold Leader and was assigned to a Y-wing, flying several campaigns for the Alliance with Gold Squadron.

Prior to the Battle of Yavin, he piloted Leia Organa to the Belassar system for a Rebel mission.

During the Battle of Yavin, he was one of the first groups who flew into the Death Star trench. Jon was the lead ship, followed by Tiree (Gold Two) and Davish Krail (Gold Five), who formed a buffer for enemy fighters. Gold Leader chose an extremely close formation for his pilots; this is typical for the much faster TIE Fighters, but Gold Five believed this to be a mistake. As Gold Leader was locking his target computer, Darth Vader shot him down, killing him instantly.

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