I have absolutely no proof for this so feel free to ignore this post, but the bootleg version I used to watch on my VCR in the early 90’s was a bit different. During the chasm jump Luke first missed, then Leia kissed him, then he tried again, this time he made it and Leia kissed him again, “for luck”. I remember thinking it’s funny what a young guy can do when he’s “properly motivated”. The second difference was during the meeting before the Death Star attack. After the wamp rats comment Luke and the pilot next to him shook hands and introduced themselves. And I’m pretty sure the guy introduced himself as “Wedge”, and I was pretty confused that there are 2 different pilots named Wedge. The third and last change I remember was the third Biggs scene right before they go inside the ships. I was very confused when back in 1997 I found online a list of SE changes and this scene was listed there - to me, it was always a part of the movie. I actually had a feeling that it originally was a bit longer.
The tape doesn’t exist anymore, I replaced it with the first official VHS tapes when they were released here and later with the SE tapes, so I have absolutely no proof that these are something else than messed up memories, but if you want a rumour list, here are mine.
The first two are just totally bogus, I’m sorry to say. We’ve seen quite a bit of the shooting of the chasm cross and there is no indication that the scene was too significantly different than how it is today.
And while Jack Klaff as Wedge did have a line cut out that was in the script, at no point did he and Luke have a formal introduction. Even in the radio drama or other such tie-in media where the expansions were based on either drafts of the script or early cuts. Not to mention it would introduce an awkward pause in the rhythm of the briefing scene that, even for how choppy the earlier scripts, seems to be incongruous. I just have no reason to believe it exists.
And the Biggs scene… Aside from the unlikeliness of it all, it’s the only one that I could conceivably believe could have snuck into the film at some point. One thing I did notice about the cut on the BD deleted scenes is that there’s a transition wipe right where the advance forward happens in the Special Edition version. It’s possible that the technician wipe was actually part of an earlier cut and simply resurrected when the scene was reintroduced in the special edition. However, it’s also likely you were influenced by the tie-in media where the scene includes a much longer conversation between Luke, Biggs and Red Leader than even what was originally shot.