Trivia

Henry B. Walthall collapsed on the set while filming and died shortly thereafter. The script of the unfinished film was rewritten so that his character would die off-screen, a heart condition having already been established in a previously filmed scene.

Film debut of Wayne Morris (as Navigator on Clipper). During World War 2, Morris would become a U.S. Navy fighter pilot ace and was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses.

This film is a disguised biography of aviation pioneer Juan Trippe (1899-1981) and his founding of Pan American World Airways, aka Pan Am.

The plane depicted as making the first trans-Pacific flight for Pan Am is a Martin M-130, registration NC14716, built in 1935 and named "China Clipper". Only two more were made - "Philippine Clipper" and "Hawaii Clipper". Each cost $417,000 ($9M in 2022). The China Clipper's first mail flight across the Pacific occurred on 22 November 1935 and it carried over 110,000 pieces of mail. The Hawaii Clipper disappeared between Guam and Manila on 28 July 1938. The Philippine Clipper crashed on 21 January 1943 near Ukiah, California on a return flight from Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The China Clipper crashed at Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago on 8 January 1945. In 1939 Pan Am began using three of the larger and more familiar Boeing Model 314s to fly their Pacific routes.

The aircraft seen escorting the China Clipper into Honolulu are a mix of rare Keystone B-4s (single tail) bombers and Keystone B-6/7s (twin tail) bombers of the U.S. Army Air Corps. Only 30 of the B-4s and 35 of the B-6/7s were made.