Deliberate mistake: In the film, American aircraft carriers carry no fighter planes. It was a weird choice...pilots who were naval fighter pilots were edited out of the story, and Wade McClusky, who in reality was previously a fighter pilot but moved into dive bombers had his story changed for the film to have him previously had been a torpedo plane pilot instead.
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the movie, after Best has bombed the Hiryu, McClusky and Dickenson are standing on the Enterprise deck, speculating on where Best might be. The view behind them is toward the bow of the Enterprise and you can see the sun low on the horizon. Dickenson turns toward the stern, with the camera view from behind him and looking towards the stern. Again you see a view of the sun low on the horizon, this time off the stern of Enterprise.
Factual error: After the Pearl Harbor attack planes set out to try to find the Japanese fleet. All the planes have incorrect markings. They should have had the red and white stripes on the rudder and the red dot inside the star on the wing and fuselage markings. They changed them after Pearl Harbor so there would be no confusion with the Japanese markings. The markings on the planes that fought at Midway were correct.
Factual error: Captain Bernard Rawlings, the British naval attaché in Tokyo at the beginning of the film, wears no medal ribbons. In fact, as depicted in photographs, Rawlings would have had several ribbons by that stage, including First World War service ribbons and the OBE he was awarded in 1920.
Factual error: The scene shows May 29,1942 as the date for the Admiral Nimitz medal ceremony on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise in port Pearl Harbor. That medal ceremony actually took place in Pearl Harbor onboard USS Enterprise on May 27, 1942. USS Enterprise and USS Hornet departed Pearl Harbor headed for Midway on May 28, 1942. (01:11:37)
Factual error: During WW2, 16 B-25s were loaded onto the USS Hornet at Naval Air Station Alameda. All 16 of the planes were placed on the deck, as B-25s were too large to fit in the below deck hangar space. In the movie, when the USS Hornet and USS Enterprise are shown together, just prior to launching the raid, there are only 14 B-25s on the deck.
Continuity mistake: The ack-ack Japanese gunners seem to be the same 2 on numerous ships and carriers. One grits his teeth and the other has a long concentrated look.
Factual error: They show several scenes of Pearl Harbor after the attack where there is no indication that anyone is observing blackout regulations when in reality the whole island was under blackout conditions afterwards.
Factual error: During the funeral scene for the men killed at Pearl Harbor, specifically the LT from the Arizona, it shows the white wooden crosses marking the graves in a disorganized pattern. All graves are arranged so that when looking at the crosses or head stones they all form a straight line in every direction.
Suggested correction: This would have been a temporary burial. The remains would later be moved to a permanent location with the neatly arrayed rows of headstones. Historical video footage from many of the Pacific Island campaigns show temporary cemeteries on the islands, were soldiers and Marines died, being established using wooden crosses, often not in perfect alignment.
Other mistake: When the attack from Japan starts at Midway and the message is reported to Nimitz, he is telling Layton that he was off slightly on his calculations. He looks at his watch, which should show 6:40 ish, but shows 3 o'clock.
Suggested correction: This is very questionable. First to get a good look at the hands on the watch, you have to pause the movie. When paused, you see a fuzzy view of the hands of the watch. You can make out one short hand (hours) and two longer hands (minutes/seconds). The short hand is pointing down towards around six or seven. One of the long hands is pointed up, at around twelve. The other long hand points towards the area of four, neither long hand (minutes) position of which would give a time of 3:00.
