whom I have ever worked in my entire life." She also considered the film as "a cheap vaudeville act" in which she appeared as the "stooge." "It ended up as a Hope comedy," recalled Thomas. "He had seven writers, she had none. I can't really say I directed the picture. I refereed it. Each star would come on the set each day with a different piece of script. Each was happy with the scene he had – until they compared notes!" Donald Sinden, then a contract star for the Rank Organisation at Pinewood Studios, had a permanent dressing room in the same block as Hepburn's. He said, "Katharine Hepburn was delightful and most professional, but what was deemed by some to be 'professional' can also be called 'temperamental' by others. I happened to be on the set of The Iron Petticoat while Miss Hepburn was blowing off steam about something in a professional/temperamental manner. Bob Hope came to the rescue and with his superb sense of humour said to her, 'If you don't behave yourself. I'll tell everyone that you are Audrey Hepburn's father!'" A difficult time in the UK was compounded by Hepburn's worrisome eye infection, and she completed her obligations, although for years she would not talk about the film. She would later recall The Iron Petticoat as an unlikely pairing of lead actors trapped in the wrong roles. She recalled that Hope thought her sense of humour was basically "zilch." Production took place primarily at Pinewood Studios, but also utilized unique background locations, such as Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus, as well as air bases in the UK. Although the plot involved a defecting military pilot, only a minimal number of aircraft appeared in the production, with the use of a Republic F-84F Thunderstreak as a stand-in for the ubiquitous MiG-15 jet fighter, the staple of 1950s Soviet air forces. Red-star markings appear on both the F-84F and C-47 to convert them to their Soviet lookalikes. When Kovelenko's MiG is escorted into West German airspace, two USAF North American F-86D Sabres intercept it. A Douglas C-47 Skytrain (as its counterpart, the Soviet Lisunov Li-2) is used for the return to Russia, while a Boeing Washington B.1 bomber and Avro Anson transport aircraft also appear, albeit mainly as backdrops. Release Clash between Hecht and Hope The Iron Petticoat was released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in the American market. Hope, whose