Henry Blair is in studio records/casting call lists playing "Quincannon's Son" and he's called Michael in the film, but he does not appear.
Actual newsreel footage was expertly inserted into the film, including scenes from the Battle of the Coral Sea.
Aerial scenes were filmed in Texas and Florida because airplanes appearing to be Japanese were not allowed on the west coast due to a fear of Japanese invasion.
An uncredited William Faulkner wrote the emotional death bed scene for the Mary Ann's pilot.
In the scene on Wake Island where a marine hands the dog to Assistant Crew Chief Weinberg (George Tobias), a voice can be heard telling the dog to give Weinberg a kiss. The voice was from the dog's owner and trainer, Frank Weatherwax. The dog, named Rommy, had appeared in numerous other movies including Reap the Wild Wind, George Washington Slept Here and Without Love.
One of the top three money makers for Warner Brothers in 1943.
The "Mary Ann" sadly was lost in the Pacific when it returned to combat duty after the release of the movie.
The aircraft that played the parts of Zeros in the film were actually Republic P-43A Lancers.
The aircraft used to play "Mary Ann" was a B-17B, one of 19 that had the gunners' bubbles replaced by the flush gun positions of the B-17C and B-17D. This aircraft MAY have been aircraft 38-583 or possibly 39-010. Also, aircraft "18" in the movie is 38-269. Pause the scenes where John Ridgely has walked in front of the daytime flight line with numbers "18" and "05" in the back ground, and, as he is talking to the crew in the bombay, look through the gap between the bomb bay door and the fuselage: as you pause and forward frame-by-frame, you will see the tail of "18" just barely enough to see the numbers "8269" showing! This means that aircraft "18" is actually B-17B 38-269.
The only members of "Maryann" killed during the film were both kissed good-bye at the beginning of the movie: John Ridgely ("The Pilot") by his wife and Ray Montgomery ("Assistant Radio Operator) by his mother. Also, these are the only crew members to have someone "see them off" at the beginning of their mission.
The real Mary Ann was used on a tour to promote the film, then assigned to Hobbs Army Air Field in New Mexico. Some time in 1943 it was flown to Amarillo Army Air Field, where, according to a newspaper article, it was taken off flight status the next day, and assigned to ground school.
The U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft that appeared in the film were:
- Ten Boeing B-17C/D Flying Fortresses from Hendrick Field, Sebring, Florida.
- North American AT-6 Texans (as Japanese fighters) and Bell P-39 Airacobras, Curtiss P-40Cs and Republic P-43A Lancers from Drew Field.
- Six Martin B-26C Marauders from McDill Field, Tampa, Florida, as the Japanese bombers.
This film was shot at Drew Field, Tampa, Florida, USA, in August 1942.