Battlestar Galactica Tapestries
Description: Galactica-types had large flight decks to support a large compliment of craft, and had three types of craft as standard. The first were Vipers, a one-man air-superiority fighter designed to engage targets beyond both the battlestar's and its target's weapons range, as well as to take on Raiders. The second were Raptors, multipurpose craft able to serve as missile carriers, military transports or electronic warfare platforms. The third were shuttles, designed also to ferry crew between ships. It is presumed that the Galactica-types could support three or four squadrons simultaneously, judging by the size of the flight pods.
Description: The origins of the Viper lie with the Caprican Air Force Viper jet, which in service for some time before 1942. It is presently unknown if the spaceborne iteration which fought in the Cylon War was another series of craft with the same name, but the Mark II was in service by the midway point of the war. This craft was, like the battlestars it launched from, designed purposely to be as low-tech as possible to thwart the Cylons' computer hacking capabilities. The similarly-designed Mark III entering service by 1958, two years before the war's conclusion.
