system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[Star Wars] Why did the initial Y-wing trench run use 3 starfighters?

At that time there weren't any TIE fighters they knew of attacking Gold Squadron so there wasn't any need for the rear 2 starfighters to protect the leader. The primary concern was the turbolasers and having multiple starfighters in the constrained space of the trench would make it more difficult to maneuver and evade the turbolaser fire. Was it a contingency plan if TIE fighters were to arrive?
gpt
Contingency but also just playing the odds. They used extra ships so that if one was destroyed two could take it's run. It also freed up one fighter to focus on bombing while the other two focused on clearing out the turbo lasers and any potential tie interception. That one fighter only has to worry about lining up his shot instead of dodging and retaliating incoming fire.