After Van Johnson brings in a blind pilot and lands safely on the carrier, he mutters "I should have found a home in the Army". In Battleground, he mutters "I found a home in the Army".
F9F Panther jets from US Navy squadron VF-192 were also used to film The Bridges at Toko-Ri. After the filming of these two movies, the squadron name was changed from "Golden Dragons" to "World Famous Golden Dragons".
Filmed aboard the CV-34, U.S.S. Oriskany.
The scene where Keenan Wynn's character is killed in a crash landing on the carrier, the footage is the actual accident of a F9F during one of its early test flights. On June 23, 1951, pilot George Duncan hit an air pocket just before landing on the USS Midway. The pocket dropped the plane but he managed to keep the nose up at the time of impact, severing the plane and expelling the plane's cockpit onto the carrier deck as a fireball erupted behind him. Except for burning his ears, Duncan survived the crash.