Jack Benny did a parody of this movie on his radio show which aired 10/26/1941
Errol Flynn was criticized for playing heroes in World War II movies. Tony Thomas in his book 'Errol Flynn: The Spy Who Never Was' states that Flynn had tried to enlist in every branch of any armed services he could but was rejected as unfit for service on the grounds of his health. Flynn had a heart condition, tuberculosis, malaria and a back problem. Flynn felt he could contribute to America's war effort by appearing in such films as Edge of Darkness; Northern Pursuit; Dive Bomber, Objective, Burma!, and Uncertain Glory. Reportedly, Flynn was at his most professional and co-operative he ever was whilst working on Second World War movies. The studios apparently did not diffuse the criticism of Flynn's state-of-health as they wished to keep it quiet for fear of his box-office draw waning.
Byron Haskin designed special mounts for a heavy Technicolor camera to allow it to move back and forth inside an airplane, in order to film the squadron while diving.
L. Ron Hubbard erroneously claimed to have written the screenplay for this film.
According to the book 'The Casablanca Man: The Cinema of Michael Curtiz' by James C. Robertson, this movie was one of the Warner Brothers studio's biggest box-office hits of 1941 and the film made a profit of more than $(US) 1 million.
According to the book 'When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II' by Bruce Orriss, when the movie was released, the Navy Department provided the new Douglas dive bomber to be displayed in principal cities, and set up recruiting booths by the theaters.
According to unproven and heavily disputed allegations in Charles Higham's biography "Errol Flynn: The Untold Story", and an April 2000 "New Statesman" article, "The Missing Errol Flynn File," Errol Flynn functioned as a German agent during the time he was in San Diego and Hawaii during the shooting of this picture, and his Pearl Harbor pictures were passed along to Fascist agents.
All stills and publicity shots had to be approved by the Naval Intelligence Bureau.
One of the pilots who flew the planes in the film footage was Navy Lt. Edward "Butch" O'Hare. O'Hare served as a fighter pilot in the Pacific and shot down five Japanese planes in his first battle, earning ace status and the Medal of Honor. O'Hare would go on to down 12 planes total and become one of the top heroes of the war before he was killed in action off the Gilbert Islands in November, 1943. O'Hare International Airport in Chicago was later named for him.
Pilot Paul Mantz was seriously injured on his way to San Diego; Frank Clarke substituted for him during his convalescence.
The carrier U.S.S. Enterprise was used in the film while docked in San Diego. The Enterprise would go on and become one of the most famous ships in history for her battles she took part in during World War II.
The first feature film to contain sequences photographed on 35mm color negative film, in this case Technicolor Monopack used for the aerial sequences. Previous color features used black and white negative film photographed behind color filters. Technicolor Monopack could be used in a standard 35mm camera instead of the bulky 3-strip Technicolor cameras.
The Navy Department allowed filming on the U.S.S. Enterprise aircraft carrier at sea for only three days.
This movie functions somewhat as an historical record of the US Navy aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise during World War II, according to the article "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies" by Jack Hardwick and Ed Schnepf in the book 'The Making of the Great Aviation Films'.
This movie was first released to the world in the USA during August 1941. This was just a few months (i.e. about four months) before the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7th December 1941.