The script was based on a true story about a flight on 3 February 1943, although, unlike the story of the film, the co-pilot did not die. In his autobiography "Fate Is the Hunter" — on which the movie of the same name is very loosely based — Gann related the true story and his role as one of the search pilots while serving with Air Transport Command at Presque Isle Airfield, Maine. Gann had been scheduled to fly the mission that ran into trouble, but was bumped off the flight by a more senior pilot.