"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on October 26, 1942 with Tyrone Power, Betty Grable and John Sutton reprising their film roles.
Tyrone Power's flying stunt double in this movie, R.A.F. pilot Lieutenant Harold Barlow, was shot down by German aircraft and taken as a prisoner-of-war, according to a 20th Century Fox studio press release of 24 January 1942.
Darryl F. Zanuck initiated the production of this movie and wrote its story under the pseudonym of Melville Crossman.
Bill Collins writes in his book 'Bill Collins presents The Golden Years of Hollywood', "With the co-operation of the Ministry for Information and a second-unit camera team headed by Ronald Neame . . . to shoot exciting RAF action in England, Daryl F. Zanuck livened-up the substance of the script and had a perfect vehicle for two of the 20th Century Fox company's top stars, Tyrone Power and Betty Grable. The box-office success of the movie was ensured by the stars . . ."
According to Bill Collins in his book 'Bill Collins presents The Golden Years of Hollywood', Darryl F. Zanuck was "very pro-British" and he wanted to make a movie about what was happening in England and Europe in regards to the Second World War.
According to notes from Twentieth Century-Fox studio publicity and their Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library, planned but rejected and unfilmed scenes included a big wedding sequence between lead characters Carol Brown (Betty Grable and Tim Baker (Tyrone Power at the end of this movie after Baker had been discovered to being alive.
According to the book 'Bill Collins presents The Golden Years of Hollywood' by Bill Collins, "Some filming was done in America. The RAF Harvard trainer and the Hudson bomber were made in the United States for British contracts, so it was possible to get some fine footage at Lockheed's Burbank facility. As there were not Mk.1A Spitfires or German BF-109Es in America, Twentieth Century-Fox had one of each constructed at the studio in Los Angeles. In England, Ronald Neame and his team worked at the RAF's No. 602 Squadron ('City of Glasgow') to capture authentic shots of take-offs, aerial formations and so forth . . . the marvelous five-minute sequence at Dunkirk was actually achieved on the Californian coast at a cost of $100,000."
According to the book 'The Films of World War II' by Joe Morella, Edward Z. Epstein and John Griggs, this movie was a pet project of studio mogul Darryl F. Zanuck. Zanuck recruited big star power to achieve success at the box-office with Tyrone Power and Betty Grable, the latter of whom was a famous WW II pin-up girl. At the time of production, America was neutral and Zanuck supported American entry into the war to support the allies.
All cast and crew attending location filming at the Lockheed Air terminal in Burbank, California had show identification in the form of proof of American citizenship in order to gain access to the movie set.
For this film, Britain's Air Ministry sent the Twentieth Century-Fox movie studio thousands of feet of film footage of the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) flying airplanes including action scenes of the R.A.F. in battle against German aircraft.
November and December 1940 entertainment news reports stated that actors Don Ameche, Mary Beth Hughes and Henry Fonda were originally slated to star in this motion picture.
Prior to production, Darryl F. Zanuck sent the film's movie script to the British Air Minister Lord Beaverbrook who commented 'We have enough drama these days . . . ' and requested more comedy be put into the screenplay.
The 'Hollywood Reporter's' news articles reported that this movies' stars, Betty Grable and Tyrone Power, attended this picture's Hollywood Premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre where an estimated ten thousand people watched on.
The film utilizes an oft-used storyline of the war movie genre which has two soldiers in love with the same girl.
The movie utilized real airborne combat footage. One the film's posters had a puff-box that read: "The aerial battles in 'A Yank in the R.A.F.' are authentic and were filmed over Germany, France and England with the full cooperation of the British Air Ministry!"
The original screenplay for the film had the American fly-boy character, Tim Baker, played by Tyrone Power, die at the end of the movie during a German aircraft attack. According to notes from the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Arts-Special Collections Library, a 25 November 1940 conference stated "the serious objection to Ty Tyrone Power' would be that audiences would resent his dying at the finish, and not getting the girl." Moreover, according to the book 'The Films of World War II' by Joe Morella, Edward Z. Epstein and John Griggs, the British military establishment requested that the studio allow the character to live because "apparently they didn't want to give American moviegoers the impression that Americans helping Britain would die." Notes from the Script Collection report a further conference on 31 January 1941 substantiates this by saying that Zanuck had had discussions, "unofficially with some British officials." The English officialdom had felt that the lead character should not die thereby not showing any more deaths than those that were absolutely essential to the movie's story. Further, a movie star-vehicle at that time with Tyrone Power was also unlikely to have him killed at the end which also may have affected the box-office
The scenes with the Spitfires were filmed in the UK. The Spitfires were from 602 squadron under the command of Squadron Leader Sandy Johnstone who were resting in early 1941 in Scotland after fighting in the Battle of Britain.
This film's opening prologue states: "The Producers wish to express their appreciation to the officers and personnel of the Royal Air Force whose cooperation, under difficult conditions, made possible the filming of the aerial scenes in this production."
This movie had two working titles: 'The Eagle Squadron' and 'The Eagle Flies Again'.
This movie was based on the real-life activities of American volunteers in the Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) according to an article in the 5 November 1940 'Hollywood Reporter' and the Twentieth Century-Fox Produced Scripts Collection at the UCLA Arts Special Collections Library.