canofhumdingers said:
I disagree with your idea that aircraft don't change appearance significantly in their lifespan.
What I said was:
"Here in the real world, well-established aircraft designs don't change their outer appearance very often."
On top of that, even when they do change their appearance, the older versions don't necessarily stop being used. In other words, there would be nothing out of place with them using X-wings and other OT air/spacecraft that still look the same 30 years later. I wouldn't mind seeing both the OT style and the "new" McQuarrie style in the movie.
The 737-200 was in commercial service for 40 years by the way: 1968-2008. And as I mentioned earlier, the longer a society has been technologically advanced, the more long-running designs they are likely to have, and their long-running designs could have run for far longer than any of ours. For example, 50 years ago, there were no 40-year-old commercial jetliner designs in service, because the technology wasn't old/mature enough for any design to have been in service for that long.
Advanced technology seems to have been around for hundreds or thousands of years in the Star Wars universe.