They were using dummy plugs one of which you can see Kaworu written on (as
mentioned in the commentary track).  So presumably they contained clones of
Kaworu and the earlier ones were clones of Rei as Kaworu and Rei were the
only beings to synch with an Eva that they did not have a direct link to
(but link to the pilots for Eva 3 & 4 was not given in the series).

"BC" <animus@ihug.co.nz> wrote in message
news:animus-0511022352230001@p45-apx1.akl.ihug.co.nz...
> Question - were these piloted by actual pilots, or were they inserted with
> "dummy plugs"?
>
> <=[BC]=>