Pilot Robert Morgan named the aircraft after his girlfriend at the time, Margaret Polk, of Memphis, TN. Morgan chose the nose artwork from a 1941 illustration in "Esquire" magazine by famous pin-up artist George Petty. She is wearing a blue outfit on the port (left) side of the aircraft and a red one on the starboard (right) side.
One of William Wyler's cameramen was killed while flying in another B-17 during a combat mission over Germany when his plane was shot down.
The "Memphis Belle" seen in this film, a Boeing B-17F (serial #41-24485), was moved to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, OH, in October 2005 to undergo a multiyear restoration. The restoration was completed in 2018 and it was put on display at the museum on 17 May 2018. It is raised and supported on stilts to give the impression of flight.
At the beginning of when the king and queen are shown driving towards the waiting crew, there is a British Horsa glider in the background. The pilot of the Horsa was Sgt. Brian Vincent, accompanied by SSgt. Bert Harget. They had been forced to make an emergency landing during a cross-country training exercise when the tug developed an engine fault. They were welcomed by the Americans, and their glider was placed at the end of the line of "Forts". The details are still there in Bert's flying log.
The first movie to be reviewed on the front page of "The New York Times".