Corrected entry: There's a shot of a jet crashed in the mud on the shore of the Nung River in a classic scene as the PBR sails underneath it. This makes for a great shot and may be the way WWII airplanes crashed, but it's not the way B52's crash. At the rates of speed and high altitudes they fly a jet aiming down at the ground like that would be in a million pieces and not sticking up in the mud. Even if the tail section were blown off it wouldn't crash this way and that's why there are absolutely no pictures of a Viet Nam combat era B52's tail section that has crashed in this way. (01:54:35)
Correction: Just FYI, the first loss of a B-52 was 11-22-72 during Operation Linebacker II. The movie, most likely, takes place about August/September 1969.
Making this an entirely different type of error. The correction is right in terms of the state and disposition of the wreckage, but the fact that the wreckage shouldn't even be there in the first place doesn't invalidate that. Maybe you should post it as a factual error?
In 22 November 1972 it was the first shot down, not lost. First B-52 lost in the Vietnam war was June 18 1965, from colliding with another B-52. In total 11 B-52's were lost from accidents, the crashed one we see in the movie could be one of those.
First crash was a collision in June 1965. First one shot down was in Linebacker 2.
Not entirely true: A B52 was lost taking off from Andersen Guam going to Vietnam in 1969. The wing broke off on take off. Structural failure. Wreckage went in the water. Deep water.
Corrected entry: Unfortunately, the most striking scene in this - or any other - film is complete nonsense. During the helicopter attack they play "Ride of the Valkyries" on an ordinary tape deck through two smallish stereo speakers in order to scare the enemy prior to the attack. Okay, let's be clear - helicopters are LOUD. Very, very loud. The enemy would hear a flight of six helicopters approaching from thirty kilometers away. You simply could not play music loud enough to overcome the engine noise of 6 choppers, not without an enormous speaker rig and the power to run it. They are using bog standard home stereo speakers, not the huge bullhorn speakers used later in the war to intimidate the enemy. The music would be barely loud enough to be heard inside the helicopter, let alone outside it. This does not refer to the music playing on the film's soundtrack; Kilgore makes it clear he is playing music from the helicopter and he intends it to be heard by people on the ground.
Correction: The speakers featured in the movie are actually "sonic weapon" high output transducers made for the military. The detail is correct in every way, not 'bog standard' crap home speakers. Applied Electro company, Point of Rocks, MD, USA. They make one system that can be heard 6 miles out from aircraft.
They are store bought store home speakers, nothing like the "sonic weapon" speakers used later in the war.
The speakers seen in the movie immediately after the music starts are solidly mounted to the helicopters in racks that are obviously not "store bought stereo home speakers" (or at the very least, have been made to appear as specialized equipment for the movie.) It is possible they aren't even functioning speakers at all and just a movie prop, but they have been adequately made to look like they are capable of broadcasting the music at a very loud volume.
Corrected entry: In northern South Vietnam (now central Vietnam), there are no navigable rivers that lead into Cambodia.
Correction: The Mekong river is navigable (I've personally navigated it twice...) and goes from Chau Doc Vietnam past Phnom Penh and deep into Cambodia.
I think the Nung is a fictional combination of the Mekong and the Dak Krong Rivers. I just saw Final Cut in imax - there's a glance at a map indicating the Nung goes N/NW to the west of Buon Me Thuot. The Dak Krong follows that path into Cambodia.
Correction: From the central highlands there is a river called the Tonle San River (or Se san River) that goes fom Vietnam straight into Cambodia. Most rivers from Vietnam flow into the Mekong river in Cambodia and then onwards to the Mekong Delta. Another one is the Se Kon although that one goes through Laos first.
Correction: The crash site wreckage you see is entirely typical of a low-level event such as an attempted emergency landing. The tail of an airliner or heavy bomber is often the only piece of piece of wreckage left after such an incident.