Race for the Yankee Zephyr

This movie is based on a true to life incident about the disappearance during World War II of an American DC-3 military airplane which was carrying the payroll for the American Pacific Fleet and crashed but was later found off Cape York in North Queensland, Australia. Screenwriter Everett De Roche has said he conceived the film from this story, which had been told to him by one of his neighbors in Mount Isa in Queensland, Australia.

After David Hemmings fell behind schedule, Brian Trenchard-Smith was brought to New Zealand to serve as a potential second unit director. This implied threat of replacement bolstered Hemmings' resolve, and he managed to complete the remainder of filming on time. Trenchard-Smith and Hemmings would later work together on Turkey Shoot (1982), and the former would also use the nickname of a henchman in this film - "Mr. Broken Teeth" - for a character in his novel "Alice Through the Multiverse".

The film is dedicated jet-boat coordinator Colin Robinson and jet-boat drivers John Rillstone, Bill Clarke who were killed during the filming of the jet-boat sequences. The dedication included in the closing credits reads: ''This film is dedicated to John Rillstone and to Bill Clarke & Colin Robinson who lost their lives on the Kawarau River, Queenstown, whilst operating Jet Boats''.

"The Yankee Zephyr" of the film's title refers to a World War II era cargo plane that in the film's story went missing in December 1944 during a flight between New Guinea and New Zealand.

The make and model of the "The Yankee Zephyr" airplane was a US Navy DC-3 cargo plane - Dakota NZ3518. "The Yankee Zephyr" was played by an actual real-life DC-3 plane. It was repainted in United States Army Air Forces (AAF / USAAF) colors for the film and then sunk in Lake Wakitipu near Queenstown in the South Island of New Zealand. The plane was then raised from the lake after principal photography was completed. According to the forum on the 'Wings Over New Zealand Aviation' website, the plane was moored at Kelvin Peninsular in Lake Wakatipu for several months after production on the movie was finished. It was floating for a time about 100 meters off the shore under rafts of 44-gallon drums under its wings and fuselage. Jet boaters would jet-ski over the planes wings for fun. The plane was eventually scuttled, scrapped and finally sold but its ZK-BEU cockpit was salvaged and saved.