Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo

When Lawson's plane arrives in Tokyo and sees the fire and smoke from the previous bomber, Davy Jones, we are not looking at a special effect. During the making of the film, there was a fuel-oil fire in Oakland, near the filming location. The quick-thinking filmmakers scrambled to fly their camera plane and B-25 through the area, capturing some very real footage for the movie.

The injuries of the crew of the Ruptured Duck are not completely correct. Lawson was hurt the worse, as the movie tries to portray, but in fact his face was pushed in from going through the windscreen of his plane. All of his front teeth were loosened and fell out into his hand when he tried to straighten them. His lower lip was laid open to the cleft in his chin. In addition to his leg being gashed open, his left bicep was severed in half. McClure's injuries were accurately portrayed; both shoulders were broken from hitting the backs of Lawson and Davenports seats. Davenport was shown was being non-ambulatory in the movie and generally helpless; however, other than a bad cut on his forehead (he went through the windscreen too), he was able to move around and help his three more badly injured crew mates. Clever was as badly injured as the movie portrayed him. Thatcher was the least injured, although he had a bleeding bump on his head, which was not shown in the movie. Thatcher received commendation for his efforts to help the three badly-injured crew members.

Intro: "One-hundred and thirty-one days after December 7, 1941, a handful of young men, who had never dreamed of glory, struck the first blow at the heart of Japan. This is their true story we tell here."

There is an alternate colorized version.