The overall concept of the plane lost in the Libyan desert and not found until years after the war is based on the true story of the "Lady Be Good," a B-24 Liberator that overflew its base on the way back from Italy. The wreckage of the plane was discovered by a British oil exploration team in 1958. All but one of the bodies were found in 1960; the last was never found.
The aircraft used is an Air National Guard B-25J.
The story of the "Lady Be Good" was also the basis of the episode "King Nine Will Not Return", the first episode of season two of the original "The Twilight Zone".
Star Trek (1966) connection: William Shatner, John Winston, and Lou Antonio. Winston played a recurring character, Lieutenant Kyle on the series, and later, Commander Kyle in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Antonio guest starred as the alien fugitive Lok-I in the episode "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield".
The name of the downed plane is "Home Run" with nose art of a baseball player swinging a bat.