The officer that Rice salutes after burning his hand on the plane was real-life Marine pilot Gregory H. 'Pappy' Boyington whose World War 2 experiences were the inspiration for Black Sheep Squadron (1976). Boyington had reached the rank of Colonel when he retired from the Marine Corps 16 years earlier in 1947.
The Marine air squadron was VMF-513. This was an actual squadron, and was in existence from 1944-2013. It flew during World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. It had only returned to the El Toro air station in October 1962. Three months prior to the November air date, the squadron was redesignated VMFA-513. The F-4B Phantom IIs shown were literally brand new to the unit at the time of filming.
Aired in 1963, this may be one of the very first times the F-4 Phantom II was portrayed as a front-line fighter bomber in the U.S. military. The aircraft was still in the process of making it's initial deployment to operational squadrons in the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Marine Corps at that time.