It is 1945 in the Pacific and the Allies are in the final days of the war. Three F-6 Hellcats are returning to the USS "Hornet" aircraft carrier (CV-8) after a routine patrol. They still have their tanks on, showing that they didn't meet any opposition while on patrol. Now, "the trap" is when they arrest aboard the carrier.

The sunrays are coming from behind the clouds represent hope. There's more of a golden feel as opposed to the reds of war. Gold is symbolic of wealth or something earned, like a trophy, so the gold in this image is symbolic of getting close to winning the war.

But there's still some tension and suspense, in both the title and the painting. It's always a tense time when you land on a carrier and it was a tense time at the end of the war because nothing was definite. The majority of the patrol is over as was the majority of the war, but still there were two important things to do. For the planes, it was "the trap." For the military as a whole, it was concluding the war.