 The aircraft used in this movie, the Folland Gnat T.Mk.1 two seat  trainer, were never used in American service, neither were they ever  capable of operating from aircraft carriers although the Indian Air  Force, which used the single seat fighter version, did do a  feasibility study of operating the type from their aircraft  carriers, mainly to due to lack of options for carrier based  aviation at the time. This was the first evidence that the aircraft  carrier used in the movie was not real, but actually a prop. Gnats  were British