The Boeing B-17G-95-DL, 44-85531, registered N809Z, flown in this movie with the Fulton Skyhook recovery system (later used on U.S. Air Force HC-130 Hercules rescue service aircraft), was owned by Intermountain Aviation, a secretive company based at Marana Air Park, Arizona, which was revealed in the 1970s to have actually been a C.I.A. proprietary company, wholly owned by the Agency, set up to cloak discrete operations, as reported by author and B-17 historian Scott A. Thompson. This aircraft is now known as "Shady Lady", registered N207EV, with the Evergreen Aviation Museum, Portland, Oregon, where Howard Hughes' HK-1 Hercules, a.k.a. the "Spruce Goose", is also displayed.
