The vessel used for shots of the PT-73 underway was a 72-foot type II Vosper MTB (Motor Torpedo Boat), a British design built under license in the US for export to Russia. The war ended in August 1945 before the boat, the real number of which was PT-694, could be sent to the Soviet Union. The boat was then purchased by billionaire businessman Howard Hughes and used as a chase boat for the one and only flight of his Spruce Goose aircraft. The boat was then sold to Universal Pictures, as there were few other real PT boats left in existence at the time, and some liberties were taken in reconfiguring it to look like a PT boat. Vosper PTs did not have machine gun turrets on either side of the pilothouse (though, ironically, the real PT-73, a Higgins design, did) as the PT-73 in the show did. Other irregularities are the mainmast aft and a small mast right in front of the cockpit. Shots of the crew aboard the PT-73 were filmed on a full-scale mock-up on a soundstage. "PT-73" was later sold to the Mayor of Hawthorne, CA, and was converted to a sportfishing boat. It was destroyed when it broke loose of its mooring near Santa Barbara and washed up on the beach during a storm. The real PT-73 was a 78-foot Higgins boat assigned to 1/15/45 it ran aground and was destroyed to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
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05-03-2025 alle ore 08:47
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