Production
The movie was filmed aboard the USS Oriskany (CV-34) and the USS Kearsarge (CV-33), 27,100-ton Essex-class aircraft carriers standing in for the fictional USS Savo Island. The aircraft used in the film is the Grumman F9F-2 Panther, a Korean War workhorse still in service and equipping the air groups of both carriers. In the novel, however, Brubaker's squadron flew McDonnell F2H Banshees. The squadron depicted is an actual unit, Fighter Squadron 192 (VF-192) "Golden Dragons," which was aboard the Oriskany during the filming, and from its part in the movie, thereafter billed itself as the "World Famous Golden Dragons." VF-192 had two war deployments to Korea, but aboard the USS Princeton (CV-37) and flying Vought F4U-4 Corsairs. The squadron continues service today today as Strike Fighter Squadron 192 (VFA-192), a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet unit.
Michener's notes indicated that the character of Harry Brubaker was based on Lieut. Donald S. Brubaker, who like his counterpart was a 29-year-old Denver reservist recalled to active duty aboard the Valley Forge. The basis for Admiral Tarrant was Rear Admiral John Perry, the carrier division commander at the time; that of Lee was Commander Marshall U. Beebe, CAG aboard the Essex in 1951 and technical advisor for the film; and Forney on Chief (AP) Duane Thorin, himself a colorful enlisted pilot known for his trademark non-regulation green headgear.
Read more about this topic: The Bridges At Toko-Ri
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“An art whose limits depend on a moving image, mass audience, and industrial production is bound to differ from an art whose limits depend on language, a limited audience, and individual creation. In short, the filmed novel, in spite of certain resemblances, will inevitably become a different artistic entity from the novel on which it is based.”
—George Bluestone, U.S. educator, critic. “The Limits of the Novel and the Limits of the Film,” Novels Into Film, Johns Hopkins Press (1957)