Other mistake: When the first torpedo hits the American ship (killing the two guys hanging on the side) Danny and Rafe jump up from the car. Their cue to do so is somebody (possibly the Director) shouting 'Boom.', which is still audible on the finished film soundtrack. (01:24:25)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Roosevelt is delivering the "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress watch the microphone placement. The MBC microphone likes to move around from left to right.
Continuity mistake: When Rafe is looking at the letter exam on the wall, the eye exam on the wall keeps changing between shots. (00:12:20)
Suggested correction: The eye chart in this shot does not move, the angle of the camera shifts over by a few feet. This can be verified if you look at the edge of the beige medicine cabinet. In the top picture, you can not see the back plate. You also can not see the left side of it as well. In the second picture, from a few feet over, now both are visible.
Factual error: As with the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, in Pearl Harbor we see that two American fighter planes took off to fight the Japanese. In reality, a total of six American flights actually took off to repel the invaders.
Other mistake: Rafe is afraid of getting his wings removed because he has dyslexia (that his teachers couldn't make sense of) and that he has had "some schooling." To be a Lieutenant as Rafe is in the movie he would need a bachelor's degree. Also this mixing up letters didn't appear on all the letters he wrote to Evelyn. Or hindered his ability to read Evelyn's letters.
Suggested correction: For his education he got help from Danny and during his time in England he could have gotten help from any of the pilots, both to write and read. He is smart enough the get a bachelor's.
What utter nonsense. Rafe is so severely dyslexic that he cannot read a basic eye chart. No amount of "help" would get him through flight training school or university.
Factual error: Early in the film, a close-up of Rafe in his Army Air Corps uniform shows his wings. The wings are not Army Air Corps, but the "shield and stripes" of the US Air Force, which did not exist at that time. Additionally, when a priest is giving last rites to the dying, he says, "In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit." But before the Second Vatican Council, it was "Holy Ghost."
Factual error: In the shot where they show the pictures the Japanese spies took, you can see the helicopter pads on the ships. Also, during the attack, helicopter pads are visible on some ships. The helicopter was not used until the Korean War, and they didn't have helicopter pads on ships until more recently.
Factual error: While the hospital did sustain some damage during the actual battle at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese forces did not deliberately target or fire upon it. Hospitals are usually avoided in battles as the people within are not in any condition to fight back and it would just be consuming ammunition that would be needed for attacking more practical targets such as enemy aircraft, assault vehicles, weapon repositories, and such.
Factual error: The USS Hornet, a Yorktown-class aircraft carrier launched in 1940, is played by a much more modern Kitty Hawk-class carrier. The B-25s also take off from a steel deck instead of a historically accurate wooden deck.
Continuity mistake: During the attack on Pearl Harbor just after the big explosion we see a captain on the bridge of his ship looking at the attack. The Japanese fire upon the bridge killing many. The captain ducks and goes to the corner, and we see him grab hold of the corner and then release his right hand to his side, but in the following shot his hand is still on the corner. (01:26:35)
Factual error: In the scene where Petty Officer Dorie Miller is boxing, a sailor betting on the fight holds a wad of dollar bills where the top one shows the overprinting HAWAII. The HAWAII overprint notes were not introduced until July of 1942, when the U.S. government replaced all currency on the islands with overprinted notes just in case the islands were invaded by Japan. If they had been overrun by Japan, the notes would then have been declared illegal. (00:43:20)
Factual error: In the scene where the Japanese aircraft are launching for the attack on Pearl, an officer on one of the carriers holds a white flag in his right hand just as the planes are about to take off. Look carefully; the wind is blowing from the stern of the ship towards the bow (as evidenced by the position of the aircraft in the background). The flag should be moving in the opposite direction, as the carrier would be turned into the wind and moving forward at top speed to launch aircraft.
Continuity mistake: In the club, Danny and Rafe and their friends are having a drink after Rafe came back from the dead, and Rafe punches Danny for going out with Evelyn. In the first shot Red goes up to Danny and he is over Danny's right shoulder, but in the following shot Red is now over Danny's left shoulder. (01:16:30)
Continuity mistake: During the attack on the smaller airfield where Rafe and Danny are, the photographer who dove in the back of the car gets shot, falls and drops the camera. When it lands it's filming his face, and there is something on the ground right in front of his face, but in the following shot nothing is there. (01:45:05)
Continuity mistake: When the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor and we see Danny and Rafe driving toward an airfield, there is a photographer in the backseat who says his line. In this shot he is not holding onto his hat, but in the following shot he is.. (01:27:00)
Continuity mistake: When Rafe goes to thank Evelyn, Evelyn at one point goes up to his ear and whispers, but her position at his ear keeps changing from really close to a bit further away between shots. (00:14:55)
Continuity mistake: As the Japanese attack begins, fighter aircraft strafe pedestrians (and everything else) near the harbour. The reporter with the hand-held movie camera is killed twice. Watch as he is blown into the air and then miraculously restored to health, only to be blown away yet again, this time with the camera in front of his face. (01:44:30)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Goose is in the bunker with everyone else, he says "Planes. Should we fire?" When he says this, we see him staring down the site of a 50 cal. In the next shot, we see the gun, but no Goose. And we know it's the same gun, because Red was by it both shots. Yet when we see the gun in the very next shot he is holding it again. He had no time to move away and back to the weapon again.
Visible crew/equipment: When the young Danny and Rafe are in the real aeroplane, in one shot before it comes to a stop you can see the shadow of a camera and cameraman. (00:02:40)
Visible crew/equipment: During the scene where Danny and Rafe are being chased at low level by several Zero fighters, there is one camera shot where we can see past a P-40's tail at the Japanese attackers. The nearest Zero appears to have a strange object attached to the top of its fuselage, just in front of the tail. Presumably, this object is a remote-controlled camera which was used by the film-makers for the aerial combat scenes.
