Ready room
Encyclopedia
A ready room is a room on an aircraft carrier
where on-duty pilots
"stand by" their aeroplanes. Each flight squadron
has its own individual ready room. Large squadrons, such as torpedo and dive-bomber squadrons, can have more than one ready room. Most ready rooms are located between the flight
and hangar
decks, but some are located on the flight deck.
Squadron pilots in the Second World War considered the ready room to be a clubroom. One personal view from a World War II pilot stated:
The ready room personnel comprises:
Also to be found in ready rooms are pilots' flying gear, including parachute harnesses, flight jackets, and helmets, ready for the pilots to put on when they leave for their aeroplanes; and assorted maps and to-scale models (of targets and of enemy ships and aircraft).
One WW2 report describes the material used by the intelligence officers in a ready room as follows:
When they are not in actual combat, pilot duties in a ready room include two hours of tactical school. New pilots are taught by senior officers.
Air Plot communicates with the ready room via the "talker" and the ticker tape, which provide pilots with positions of enemy contacts. Pilots are responsible for plotting course and location information, copying "point option" from the main board at the front of the room.
The "ouija board" is a diagram of the flight deck, recording the positions of each pilot's aeroplane on the flight deck, so that he can locate it immediately. As 'planes are "re-spotted" (moved from one spot to another) on the deck, the locations are updated on the board.
, based upon contrasting experiences of British and U.S. carriers encountering kamikaze attacks off Okinawa. The British design had successfully resisted such attacks, whilst the U.S. design had not.
The report touched upon the issue of the location of ready rooms:
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
where on-duty pilots
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
"stand by" their aeroplanes. Each flight squadron
Squadron (aviation)
A squadron in air force, army aviation or naval aviation is mainly a unit comprising a number of military aircraft, usually of the same type, typically with 12 to 24 aircraft, sometimes divided into three or four flights, depending on aircraft type and air force...
has its own individual ready room. Large squadrons, such as torpedo and dive-bomber squadrons, can have more than one ready room. Most ready rooms are located between the flight
Flight deck
The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface from which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters and other VTOL aircraft is also referred to as the...
and hangar
Hangar
A hangar is a closed structure to hold aircraft or spacecraft in protective storage. Most hangars are built of metal, but other materials such as wood and concrete are also sometimes used...
decks, but some are located on the flight deck.
Squadron pilots in the Second World War considered the ready room to be a clubroom. One personal view from a World War II pilot stated:
Typical contents and personnel of a ready room
The typical ready room is equipped as follows:- armchair seats for the pilots, usually of airliner type
- coffee and magazines
- a loudspeakerLoudspeakerA loudspeaker is an electroacoustic transducer that produces sound in response to an electrical audio signal input. Non-electrical loudspeakers were developed as accessories to telephone systems, but electronic amplification by vacuum tube made loudspeakers more generally useful...
, known as the "bull horn" - an illuminated ticker tapeTicker tapeTicker tape was the earliest digital electronic communications medium, transmitting stock price information over telegraph lines, in use between around 1870 through 1970...
- a main board at the front of the room
- a blackboardBlackboardA chalkboard is a reusable writing surface.Blackboard may also refer to:* Blackboards are synonymous with "boards of infamy", an element of agitation-propaganda in the Soviet Union in 1930s, coincidental with Holodomor...
- a "Ouija board"
The ready room personnel comprises:
- the on-duty squadron pilots
- the squadron commander or executive officer
- the permanent duty officer
- the squadron Air Combat Information officer
- the "talker", an enlisted man who communicates with Air Plot
Also to be found in ready rooms are pilots' flying gear, including parachute harnesses, flight jackets, and helmets, ready for the pilots to put on when they leave for their aeroplanes; and assorted maps and to-scale models (of targets and of enemy ships and aircraft).
One WW2 report describes the material used by the intelligence officers in a ready room as follows:
Operations
Pilots report to their ready rooms at specified times. When all on-duty pilots are present, the squadron commander informs Air Plot of this with the message that "Ready room N is manned and ready." (where "N" is the number of the ready room).When they are not in actual combat, pilot duties in a ready room include two hours of tactical school. New pilots are taught by senior officers.
Air Plot communicates with the ready room via the "talker" and the ticker tape, which provide pilots with positions of enemy contacts. Pilots are responsible for plotting course and location information, copying "point option" from the main board at the front of the room.
The "ouija board" is a diagram of the flight deck, recording the positions of each pilot's aeroplane on the flight deck, so that he can locate it immediately. As 'planes are "re-spotted" (moved from one spot to another) on the deck, the locations are updated on the board.
Placement of ready rooms
In the autumn of 1945, CinCPAC conducted a review of aircraft carrier design, intended to produce a successor design to that of the Essex-class aircraft carrierEssex class aircraft carrier
The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy, which constituted the 20th century's most numerous class of capital ships with 24 vessels built in both "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two were originally ordered; however as World War II wound down, six were...
, based upon contrasting experiences of British and U.S. carriers encountering kamikaze attacks off Okinawa. The British design had successfully resisted such attacks, whilst the U.S. design had not.
The report touched upon the issue of the location of ready rooms: