Fighting Squadron (VF) 40 pilots (standing left to right) A.L. Lee, Bullit Lockride, (seated left to right) Bill Neal and Jack Longino examine target maps in the ready room on board the escort carrier Suwannee (CVE 27) during combat operations in the Pacific. They appear to be completing after action reports. Longini became skipper of the squadron on 5 April 1945, after Lieutenant Commander Richard D. Sampson was killed in action. Nicknamed the "Flying Boars," VF-40 was in the Solomon Islands during 1943 and 1944 and went aboard Suwannee in February 1945. The squadron shot down twenty-nine aircraft during World War II.

On board carriers during World War II the air officer relayed messages to the ready rooms of squadrons using ticker tape. Lieutenant (junior grade) Paul Brehm saved this section of ticker tape from 15 August 1945, the message received in the Bombing Squadron (VB) 87 ready room announcing V-J Day.  Click on the image for a larger view.

On 21 July 1967, Lieutenant Commander Tim Hubbard fired two Zuni rockets in shooting down a North Vietnamese MiG-17 fighter in aerial combat over North Vietnam. After the feat, the head rest used to identify his ready room chair in the squadron ready room was adorned with a star to commemorate the kill. Among Hubbard's decorations for his Vietnam combat service were the Silver Star and sixteen awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

A modern carrier ready room, this one on board Constellation (CV 64) during the early weeks of Operation Iraqi Freedom, are stark contrasts to their World War II predecessors.  Instead of chalk boards, video screens are employed in briefings and relaying information. Yet, what has not changed is the camaraderie built within the space.