Factual error: All of Jimmy Doolittle's "raiders" had leather flight jackets prepared especially for their mission to bomb Tokyo. On the back of the jackets was a message written in large Chinese characters that explained who they were so the Chinese (if the crew were lucky enough to reach unoccupied China which was the original plan) would not kill them. I also believe there were large U.S. flags and Chinese flags (the old Republic of China style) painted or sewn on the back of these jackets as well. This important costume detail was omitted in the movie.

Continuity: In the middle of the film just after the Japanese start attacking Pearl Harbor, Cuba Gooding Jr sees the captain injured. If you watch closely, the captain is pointing at Cuba but doesn't touch his arm, yet in some shots you can see that his hand is touching his arm.

Continuity: In the scene where Rafe is burning his love letters on the beach after learning Evelyn is pregnant with Danny's child, when Danny and Rafe are talking there is a modern "dune fence" meant to keep people from walking on sensitive dune plants clearly visible in the background.

Plot hole: In the scene where Danny and Evelyn are talking, Danny 'finds out' that Rafe volunteered to go to England. Danny already knew that Rafe volunteered because near the start of the film, Danny was in the same office as Rafe when Rafe was given the choice to go to England or not.

Continuity: When one of the Men are speaking to the President about the boys having to take the airplanes off the carrier too soon, you can see there's a ring on his left pinky finger, but no wedding ring.

Continuity: On the island with Pearl Harbor when the girl and Ralf is sitting in the old car on the beach you can see the camera wagon in the bumper on the car.

Plot hole: Near the end of the Tokyo raid, Col. Doolittle orders his radio operator to "break radio silence" so he can address the rest of the planes. For the duration of the raid, though, intelligence officers had been listening to radio transmissions back at Pearl (other users have already commented that this in itself is a historical error). If these transmissions were being heard at Pearl, there was obviously no radio silence to begin with.

Continuity: After Rafe hits himself with the cork, Evelyn puts snow on it. She then is seen removing it, but when the camera angle changes, the snow is back on his nose.

Continuity: When Rafe and Evelyn go to the Queen Mary ship and they are rising on the platform, and kissing, one sweeping camera shot shows the handle of the elevator controls going straight up. This would mean that they had stopped, yet they are still moving up. A couple of seconds later, a close up of the handle shows that it is now in the position to move the elevator up.

Plot hole: Danny receives the telegram from Rafe, telling him that he is alive, at the same time Rafe meets with Evelyn. The telegram must have been sent from Hawaii. Why didn't he just call on the phone? When Rafe reached the U.S. after leaving England why didn't he send a telegram then. In those days it took some time to travel from the Eastern U.S. all the way to Hawaii and there is no way he beat the telegram if it was sent when he returned to the U.S.

Continuity: When Rafe and Evelyn go to the Queen Mary and are rising on the boat is one sweeping camera shot. Look to the right as their boat goes up and you can see the film crew going up on a platform. Note that the next shot of them on the boat is filmed from that platform.

Continuity: During the attack on Pearl Harbor, Rafe, along with a couple of other pilots jump into a convertible car to drive to another airfield. The actual set they depart from (which is exploding all around them) is the same one they "arrive" at minutes later, but the whole set is intact, instead of an actual different set/location.

Continuity: When Rafe comes back for the first time after supposedly being dead and you see his reflection in the glass before meeting his lover, as the camera pans across the room you can see a green light moving on the wall as the camera moves. I'm not sure what it is but it could be the light to indicate the camera is on.

Continuity: As the bombs land and chaos ensues in Pearl Harbor, in a scene where some classic cars are parked on the beach, you can clearly see the card-board squares that the cars' wheels are parked on (presumably to keep them from digging in to the sand.)

Continuity: When Danny & Rafe take off from the sattellite airfield their landing gear is (obviously) down. You see a shot of them from behind like this. Two seconds later they just clear a building, in the heat of a combat takeoff,and both sets of landing gear are fully retracted.

Continuity: When Evelyn and Danny are having a drink in a cafe going over the good times with Rafe, we see the camera pan down from a height, in this shot we see Danny holding onto a cup in his right hand which is sitting on a saucer on the table, but in the following shot he is just putting it down on the table.

Continuity: When Rafe's girlfriend is looking for him at the train station there's a train behind her that says "Silver Horizon." But when the camera shows Rafe looking at his girlfriend the words on the train are gone.

Other: During take off from the carrier, 600 miles at sea, trees and a shoreline are in the distance.