The hospital ship briefly shown in the film is the actual U.S.S. Relief (AH-1). She was the first ship built from the keel up as a dedicated hospital ship. Commissioned in 1920, she had a capacity of 550 beds and was awarded five battle stars for its service in World War II. She was decommissioned in 1946 and sold for scrap in 1948.
When Turner restored this film from the print found in Prague, they forgot to translate the messages being typed in the radio room back at the carrier, so they are printed in Czech.
Approximate translations of the two messages: 'We are still going through a terrible storm' and 'We're going down fast.'
Approximate translations of the two messages: 'We are still going through a terrible storm' and 'We're going down fast.'
USS Langley (CV-1) appears in several scenes. USS Langley was the United States Navy's first aircraft carrier. It was converted in 1920 from the collier USS Jupiter (AC-3), also the U.S. Navy's first turbo-electric-powered ship. Langley was named after Samuel Pierpont Langley, an American aviation pioneer. It was in service up into World War II. On 27 February 1942, she was attacked by dive bombers of the Japanese 21st and 23rd Naval Air Flotillas about 75 miles south of Tjilatjap and had to be scuttled.
The plane the guys take their first flight in at Pensacola is a Consolidated NY-2 float-plane. In service from 1926 to 1939, it had a top speed of 90 mph, a range of 210 miles, and a service ceiling of 11,000 feet.
Filmed mostly during late summer, specifically through late September, 1928. Most of the film was shot on location in San Diego. Anita Page was quoted in a contemporary report as saying that this was the first film for which she had spent most of the production on location.