The Final Countdown (1980) - 11 mistakes

Continuity: During the dogfight with the Japanese Zeroes, the ordnance hung on the two F-14s' weapon stations keep changing. For the weapons to change, the airplanes would have had to land and re-arm about four times during the two-minute dogfight.

Continuity: When Lasky heads toward the conning tower, an F8 Crusader is shown at left (and the helicopter nose has a number "3" on it). As he is led inside the tower, the camera pans up, and now the Crusader is gone, replaced by an AWACS Hawkeye (and the number "3" on the heli is gone, too).

Continuity: There are two F-14s that deal with the yacht and the two Zeros. They are respectively numbered 202 and 203 prominently on both sides of their forward fuselages. But when one fires a missile to down the second Zero, suddenly it is number 200, a jet that hasn't been launched.

Deliberate "mistake": Real Japanese Zeros were, of course, not available for the film, so American T-6 Texans were painted in Japanese markings instead.

Plot hole: While still unsure where and when they are, the Nimitz has two F-14 Tomcats aloft, investigating a pair of low-altitude radar contacts. They determine the planes are WWII-vintage Japanese Zeros in full military livery. The Tomcats are told to shadow the Zeros without engaging them. Then, the Captain, the XO, the CAG and Lasky all go to a formal dining room and sit down to tea. In this scene, they talk about many other 1941-era things that are happening, but nobody mentions the Zeros. That fact, and that they left their Tomcats where they did, suggests this scene was meant to be in an earlier part of the film (when things seemed odd, but no imminent threat existed) and got moved here, creating a plot hole that the USS Nimitz could slide through sideways. US Navy nuclear carrier command staff wouldn't simply go have tea under the current conditions.

Continuity: A helicopter ferries Lasky to the Nimitz, but as it takes off, it is marked as unit 9010, but in flight after passing the Arizona Memorial, it is unit 9717.

Factual error: Pearl Harbor is said to be 280 miles away from the USS Nimitz. An F8 Crusader on a recon mission to the harbor reports unusual shipping traffic, and that he will make another pass for a close-up series of photos. The CAG then immediately states the F8's ETA (estimated time of arrival) back to Nimitz is 12 minutes. At its maximum speed of 1,225mph, it will need to skip the second pass entirely to have any hope of returning in 12 minutes.

Revealing: When the Zeros destroy the yacht, mooring lines can be seen holding the boat in place as it explodes. Obviously, it isn't actually at sea, but is very near shore.

Revealing: When the Marines shoot the Japanese pilot, you can see the wire used to set off the blood bags coming out of his pants leg as he falls.

Continuity: As the helicopter lands on the USS Nimitz, there is no number on the nose. But as Lasky disembarks, the number "3" appears.

Factual error: When Captain Yelland is shown the reconnaissance photo taken over Pearl Harbor by his own plane, it is identical to the historic photo from Commander Faraday's files. If you look at the picture, you can see 2 torpedo wakes heading towards the ship in the center of the photo. This is confirmed by the Discovery Channel's "Death of the Arizona" program. The photo was taken just as the attack began, and at this time in the movie, the attack was still a day ahead.