The Rebel Alliance has flown more Y-wings than any other fighter and has used a number of different configurations for a variety of mission profiles. It is not uncommon for a Y-wing to be stripped down for assault runs against Imperial convoys and then be refitted by Rebel technicians for a heavy bombing run against an Imperial base. Y-wings also find use on diplomatic escort missions and for long-range patrols.

The Y-wing has three main components. The forward cockpit nose cone houses the pilots and weapons systems. A reinforced space-frame central spar stretches back from the nose cone; the Y-wing's ionization reactor and hyperdrive/astrogation hardware are crammed into this narrow frame. A cross wing housing the main power cells attaches at the back of the spar, with the two powerful turbine sublight ion drives on either end.

The cockpit module is protected by sturdy armor plating. Hull plating originally covered the entire Y-wing body, but as the ship requires maintenance after virtually every flight, mechanics weary of constantly removing and replacing panels have finally left the body plating off entirely. The pilot controls a pair of forward laser cannons and the twin proton torpedo launchers. A turret-mounted ion cannon is directly behind the pilot, although the ion cannon is notoriously delicate and failure-prone. An astromech droid fits into the droid socket behind the cockpit and monitors all fight, navigation and power systems.