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Factual error: In many episodes, SS members of all ranks appear - the most notorious recurring character being Major Hochstetter. Curiously enough, Hochstetter couldn't have been a Major in the SS, simply because that rank didn't exist there. The SS used the SA rank system, not the Wehrmacht one. Hochstetter for example would have to be a Sturmbannführer. Colonel Feldkamp would have to be a Standartenführer. To avoid confusion: Hochstetter sometimes claims he is Gestapo, even when he's wearing an SS uniform (different mistake). However, he couldn't be a major there either - he'd have to be a Kriminalrat or Kriminaldirektor, because the Gestapo, which was in principle a civilian police organisation and wasn't half as closely integrated with the SS or the military as the series would have us believe, didn't use military ranks at all.

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The Rise and Fall of Sergeant Schultz - S2-E6

Factual error: General Kamler awards Schultz what he calls "The Iron Cross Fourth Grade." There never was a version of the Iron cross called that. The Iron cross came in two ranks, called 2nd class ("zweiter Klasse") and 1st class ("erster Klasse"). The ranks higher than that were called the Knight's Cross ("Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes") and were never pinned to the chest but worn around the neck.

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Color the Luftwaffe Red - S4-E8

Factual error: The medal Newkirk steals from the German officer in the pub is a Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords. There were a total of 148 presentations, most of them 1943-45. By 1942 (where the series is apparently set), less than 25 had been presented. That Newkirk should actually stumble across a wearer by pure chance is highly unlikely, that the wearer should actually "never miss it" as Newkirk states, is plainly impossible. Being the fourth highest ranking military decoration of the Wehrmacht, it would have been missed almost immediately - if not by the wearer himself, then by his fellow officers. (00:22:35)

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Drums Along the Dusseldorf - S3-E30

Factual error: All through this episode, characters keep referring to the river the bridge *du jour* spans as "The Düsseldorf" or "Düsseldorf river." The city of Düsseldorf is situated on the river Rhine - there is no "Düsseldorf river." It's a well known fact that the producers were hardly geography whizzes, but not knowing the Rhine is bad even by their standards. Curiously enough, there kinda is a "Düsseldorf river" called the Düssel, and it meets the Rhine there. The Düssel however is a small streamlet that a well-trained man could probably jump over - so the mistake is still a valid one.

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Easy Come, Easy Go - S6-E15

Factual error: Klink and Hogan sit behind each other in the P-51 they try to steal. The P-51 is a single-seat airplane, the only twin-seat P-51 are trainers. A trainer would not be at the flight line with the regular airplanes, and if a trainer would actually scramble with the others, it would at least arouse suspicion.

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Factual error: In several episodes, Hogan and his men are confronted with mobile missile launchers. These are depicted as a missile on a flatbed from which it is launched at the push of a button. While there existed mobile German missile launchers for the A4 missile better known as "V2", they consisted of a whole column of trucks, among them a transport truck for the missile with erector hydraulics, at least two tankers for the fuel, a control vehicle and several other trucks full of equipment, not counting the transport capability for a dozen or more operators that were necessary to launch them. Also the missiles weren't launched from the transport vehicles, but placed on mobile launch racks that were transported separately.

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Factual error: Baker and Kinchloe, the radio experts of the troupe, often use Morse code to communicate by radio. When they do, they hammer the Morse key in different intervals, but always just barely tap it. Morse code is made up of "short" and "long" beeps. To produce a "long" in Morse code, you have to hold the key down three times as long as you would for a "short". A tap would be a "short" - the beeps they are sending are spaced long and short, but that's not how Morse code works.

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Factual error: Burt claims his watch updates its time "by connecting directly to the cesium clock in Colorado via ultrasonic frequency." Later the graboids home in on him by the ultrasonic sound emitted by his watch. Firstly, radio controlled watches update their time by receiving signals, but they don't emit any signals - the battery would be way too weak for two-way communication. Secondly, they work on radio waves, not sonic waves. Thirdly, if a hypothetical time transmitter did work on ultrasonics, the smallest distance between Colorado and Nevada is some 435 km (around 270 mi). An ultrasonic signal strong enough to reach that far would probably be deadly within a sizable range around the transmitter. (00:08:20)

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Factual error: Bond pulls his mini jet out of the path of the missile racing in from behind, making it narrowly miss his aircraft. Like most such piloting stunts from Hollywood, it wouldn't have worked. Modern anti-aircraft missiles have proximity fuses and fragmentation warheads or continuous-rod warheads. They actually deliberately pass by the aircraft they are trying to destroy and explode next to them, because the cross-section is greater that way. There have even been cases when a missile actually hitting an airplane just disintegrated without exploding, thus saving the target.

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Factual error: Aircraft have multiple independent tanks. If one tank is hit, it should be able to fly for hours on the others. It would be very unlikely that all tanks of the plane got hit during the firefight - some are in quite well-protected spots. It is actually very nigh impossible to pierce every single tank from the outside and still have a flyable plane remaining.

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Factual error: As the SLBMs eject from the submarines, they visibly jostle and shake the missile tube hatch, especially the second one - the hatch even scrapes the missile surface. Real missile hatches don't do that. In fact, if the missile actually did scrape the hatch, both the hatch and the missile would be irreparably damaged - consider the momentum of a 10m high, 13 ton missile... (01:43:20)

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Factual error: When the two missiles blast out of the water, the first thing you see is the glare of the rocket motors under water. SLBMs rise out of the water solely on the air or steam pressure impulse that propels them out of the launcher. The rocket motors ignite only after the missile has left the water completely. (01:43:20)

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Factual error: As Bond switches his gondola to hovercraft mode in Venice, a large skirt unfolds from the bottom of the craft. There could never be enough room below the deck of a gondola to store the folded skirt plus whatever fans and machinery the air cushion drive would require. (00:38:40)

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Factual error: Moonraker 6 with Holly and James on board jettisons its booster rockets after reaching space. The solid fuel boosters are jettisoned after they burn out at about 50 km height, far below orbit. Their empty weight is considerable, it is highly doubtful if the shuttle would even be able to carry them into orbit. (01:28:55)

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Souvenirs - S5-E22

Factual error: The MP describes the antique vase Burns is supposed to have bought as "An 800-year-old seladon vase of the Ko-Yu dynasty". Later, Burns packs up a white vase to send to his wife. Seladon is by definition green, and that kind of color glazing definitely wasn't around in the 13th century. What Burns packs up looks most like early to middle Quing period - or rather a contemporary ripoff. (00:09:00 - 00:14:00)

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Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen - S11-E16

Factual error: When Hawkeye leaves the tank after parking it in the trash heap, he comes out of the cupola hatch. He should be coming out of the driver's hatch, because he sure as hell didn't drive that tank from the turret.

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Abyssinia, Henry - S3-E24

Factual error: Henry says that every Wednesday, his wife drives up Route 26 with some friends. US. Route 26 starts out in Nebraska and leads to Oregon. The closest thing that could be described as a "Route 26" would be the road leading from Princeton, IL to Dixon, IL which begins 85 miles from Bloomington. The writer probably meant Route 24, which passes about 20 miles north of Bloomington. (00:03:10)

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Deal Me Out - S2-E13

Factual error: In this episode, Henry is seen handing Radar the keys to his jeep. While this probably benefited the understanding of the audience, it is historically incorrect. Jeeps assigned to a combat zone were outfitted with an ignition switch, not an ignition lock, for the simple reason that in an emergency the vehicle had to be useable by anyone. (00:03:40)

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