"Pearl Harbor", the movie.

[Sabrejet]

As it's the 70th anniversary of 12-7-41, I thought perhaps a discussion on that travesty of a movie, "Pearl Harbor" might be timely?

 

I'll begin by stating what was wrong with it IMHO. Pretty much everything really! :pinch:

 

[KASTAUFFER]

My Father-In-Law was very disappointed with this movie. He was invited to the premier when it came out. He and alot of other survivors feel let down by the portrayal of the event because of the lack of historical accuracy.

 

As he says " its a love story, not a documentary" .

 

Kurt

[Sabrejet]

My Father-In-Law was very disappointed with this movie. He was invited to the premier when it came out. He and alot of other survivors feel let down by the portrayal of the event because of the lack of historical accuracy.

 

As he says " its a love story, not a documentary" .

 

Kurt

 

I think your Father-in-law nailed it! Give me "Tora" Tora! Tora!" any day of the week!

[cutiger83]

Just for reference sake, can y'all list some of the historical inaccuracies?

 

I am not debating the issue. I understand it was not correct.

I just thought others might like to hear what was wrong by someone who was there like your father-in-law.

 

Thanks, Kat

[panzerbait]

It was a shame. So much money was thrown into making it, and yet they turned it into a real dog of a movie. Can you imagine if they had done somewhat of a remake of "Tora-Tora-Tora" with the resources and money they had available for this movie?!?

[Sabrejet]

Kat....as Andy Williams once sang.."Where do I begin...!?" etc. :w00t:

[cutiger83]

Kat....as Andy Williams once sang.."Where do I begin...!?" etc. :w00t:

 

I do understand that was a loaded question.

 

I just thought it might be interesting to hear from a real Pearl Harbor survivor's point of view.

 

.....Kat

[Jack's Son]

I agree that it was a high-tech waste of money.

Had it been made in the fashion of "Midway", it would have been a big hit.

[Sabrejet]

Kat..they threw just about every war move cliche into the mix...the hell with historical accuracy! Any similarities between the film and actual events on that day of infamy are purely accidental!

[uplandmod]

Just for reference sake, can y'all list some of the historical inaccuracies?

 

I am not debating the issue. I understand it was not correct.

I just thought others might like to hear what was wrong by someone who was there like your father-in-law.

 

Thanks, Kat

 

I knew it was going to be a terrible film within the first 5 minutes into the film by the way the nurses wore their hair all done up against regulation.....

 

Heck Michael Bay couldn't even get a simple toy line like Transformers correct.

 

Really the worst director/producer in recent times...

[cutiger83]

I knew it was going to be a terrible film within the first 5 minutes into the film by the way the nurses wore their hair all done up against regulation.....

 

To me this is not a "Pearl Harbor" inaccuracy. It may have been wrong for the time but it is not something related to Pearl Harbor.

[Sabrejet]

Kat...we GI collectors make very bad war movie watchers because we tend to look for inaccuracies, whether it's insignia, uniform details or vehicles etc. However, PH was sooooo bad, such errors almost paled into insignificance in the overall scale of things. The movie had a multi-million dollar budget. It was money wasted and a box-office disaster. In Spielberg's hands it would've been a movie worth watching!

[uplandmod]

To me this is not a "Pearl Harbor" inaccuracy. It may have been wrong for the time but it is not something related to Pearl Harbor.

 

 

To me it is how a film maker makes choices on how they want to portray an era. If Michael Bay couldn't even get something as simple as a nurse's hairstyle correct for the an important scene such as the opening sequence of the film, I figured he was going to throw out all the other small details for the sake of eye candy. After watching the film I proved to be correct.

 

I'm just a details person as a film maker.

 

Cheers

Leonardo

[cutiger83]

Kat...we GI collectors make very bad war movie watchers because we tend to look for inaccuracies, whether it's insignia, uniform details or vehicles etc. However, PH was sooooo bad, such errors almost paled into insignificance in the overall scale of things. The movie had a multi-million dollar budget. It was money wasted and a box-office disaster. In Spielberg's hands it would've been a movie worth watching!

 

Ian,

 

I do understand this. I am in no way defending the movie. I am just curious about the historical aspects not the uniform or vehicle details.

 

What was wrong with the historical aspect? What in the actual battle sequence on Dec 7th was wrong? What in the Doolittle mission was wrong?

 

These are the things I would like to hear from a Pearl Harbor survivor; not the detail in every uniform or how a nurse wore her hair.

I am sure to witness Pearl Harbor first hand was a life changing experience. To talk to someone who was there would be an amazing experience.

Personally, I could give a rat's patootie about the uniform inaccuracies.

 

Edit to add: I would rather learn what is historically inaccurate about the battle scenes.

 

....Kat

[Jack's Son]

What was wrong with the historical aspect? What in the actual battle sequence on Dec 7th was wrong? What in the Doolittle mission was wrong?

These are the things I would like to hear from a Pearl Harbor survivor;

....Kat

Well Kat.......Let me tell'ya. It was a fine Sunday morning, December 7th, 1941, the sun was shinning and..........

I've got to stop, it's just too painfull........you'll have to watch the movie!!!

[Teamski]

How dare you even think about posting anything about this piece of garbage. It was a complete insult to all who were actually at Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Britain and the raid on Tokyo. It is a travesty and should be burned.

 

-Ski

[cutiger83]

When someone speaks of historical inaccuracies, I think something must be wrong with the events of the day. Everyone has mentioned how horrible the film was from a plot/storyline or from a uniform error. No one has said what is truly wrong with the movie from a historical perspective.

 

What is wrong with the battle sequences? What in the events of Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raid are incorrect?

 

Thanks, Kat

[MasonK]

Here are a few courtesy of IMDB...

 

 

Anachronisms

 

Due to the obvious difficulties in obtaining antique machinery, some of the military equipment does not exactly match the period, and dates from later in the war. Some of the ships and aircraft were built long after World War II, or have equipment added by their present owners - antique planes and warships are even harder to come by.

 

A modern barcode can be seen on the back of a whiskey bottle. There's also a clear shot of a bottle with a built-in plastic translucent pourer under a plastic screw cap.

 

Air conditioning units can be seen on top of the White House.

 

Evelyn and her nurse friends are shown wearing bikinis. The bikini didn't make its first appearance until 1946.

 

The license plate on the car says 1943.

 

A sailor betting on Dorie Miller's boxing match has a $5 bill with the "Hawaii" overprint on it. Although series 1934 and 1934-A notes were printed with the "Hawaii" overprint, these notes were not issued until July 1942, seven months after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

 

A machine gunner, though not smoking (in accordance with the film's no smoking policy), has a pack of cigarettes - modern "Marlboro Lights".

 

A modern 'rocking' style light switch can be seen in Evelyn's house.

 

When Evelyn first enters Pearl Harbor, there is a tall building that clearly says, "Est. 1953".

 

In the first view of Pearl Harbor, just before the nurses are shown in the small transport boat the Arizona Memorial is visible in the background.

 

A Japanese officer is shown examining Reconnaissance photos mounted on black illustration board. The Name "Oxford" is clearly visible, as is the modern "Recycling" symbol, indicating that is at least partly made from recycled materials.

 

The early boyhood scenes are dated 1923, but the father is a crop duster, an occupation that did not exist until after WWII. In addition, the Stearman biplane used in the opening scenes wasn't produced until 1934. It was a pilot trainer for the military, and was released to the public after WWII as surplus.

 

The Japanese zero aircraft depicted in the film are green, even though the ones used in the real attack in 1941 were painted grey. The Japanese Navy didn't paint their zeroes green until 1943.

 

In the beginning of the movie, we see a newsreel of 1940, showing a US tank fighting in the city of Cologne. This did not happen before March 1945.

 

In the golf course scene you can see a Willys Jeep M38. This car was not produced before 1950.

 

In the England scene, a spitfire with a four-blade propelleris seen. This was a late-war model. All Spitfires at the time of the Battle of Britain were models with three-blade constant pitch propellers.

 

The rimless eyeglasses worn by Dan Aykroyd's character, with the lenses held in place by a nylon wire, are a relatively modern invention. Back in WWII, the only rimless eyeglasses that would have been available were what were called "drill-mounts"; holes were drilled into the lenses, and the nose bridge and temples were screwed into the lenses via these drill holes. Nylon wire rimless glasses didn't come into use until many years later.

 

As soon as the Japanese planes fly in, we see shots of the US fleet. The ships with the overhanging ladder style device at their bows are a class of assault-transport ship that were not launched until the early 1970s - some 30 years after the events takes place.

 

A speedboat featured is a 1950's era Capri type Chris Craft. The movie is set in 1941.

 

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Danny and Rafe are seen boarding a C-47 transport which is to take them to their destination where they will train for the top secret mission. The C-47 used, clearly has a radar dome mounted in the nose. C-47s of this type did not exist in that time frame.

 

Japanese pilots are shown putting on white rising sun headbands and drinking a cup of sake before the takeoff. This ritual was created for the "special attack" (kamikaze) units and did not appear until almost three years later.

 

When Danny is called on the carpet by Doolittle for buzzing the field, he refers to Doolittle's trophies on a cabinet to his left. One of the trophies is of an F-86 Sabre, a swept wing jet not even on anyone's drawing board in 1940.

 

In the scene when Admiral Kimmel complains about transferring twelve destroyers to the Atlantic, the distinctive "mack" of a decommissioned Knox class frigate is clearly visible in the background. Another is visible in the background of the fight scene. The first ship of this class was not commissioned until 1975, and it was the only class of ship in the US Navy with this type of mack (combined mast and stack).

 

Red's M1928A1 Thompson submachine gun has a 30-round magazine. 30-round magazines weren't available until the release of the M1/M1A1 Thompson in 1942 so he should be using a 20-round magazine or the 50-round drum magazines the other pilots are using.

 

During the opening scene almost all of the terms used by the boys came into use during World War II, years after the supposed time of the scene.

 

When Rafe and the other pilots are attempting to reach their planes, he tells them that P-40s can't outrun Zeroes, but can out-turn them. Not only is this information untrue, in fact the truth is quite the opposite, but how would he know this information? The Zero was only introduced in 1940, and very few, if any, Americans had ever seen it in action before Pearl Harbor.

 

Multiple New York-class battleships are shown being destroyed in the raid. Neither of these ships were in the Pacific at the time. At the time of Pearl Harbor, the USS New York was in Newfoundland, and the USS Texas was in Maine. Share this

 

In the scene in the Cryptography office, as Dan Aykroyd mutters about the Japanese flooding the Pacific with radio traffic, the ticker-tape coded messages are printed out in Helvetica, a font not designed until the 1950s.

 

The "Battle of Britain" scenes take place in early 1941, but the battle ended by the end of October 1940. The Germans still bombed the UK until 1941 but only at night

 

During the Doolittle Raid, USS Hornet has the number "8" painted on her deck. At the time of the raid, US carriers didn't have their hull numbers on their flight decks. Most showed their names abbreviated, e.g. "EN" for Enterprise, or "YKTN" for Yorktown. Hornet's deck only had guide lines to aid the pilots.

 

Errors in geography

 

Mountains can be seen in the background at Mitchell Field in Long Island, which is shown as being by the sea. There are no mountains in Long Island and the base is inland.

 

Throughout the attack scene, the placement of the battleships in Battleship Row changes. When the Oklahoma is shown capsizing, in some scenes she is correctly moored next to the Maryland, in other scenes she is next to the destroyed Arizona. In some parts the capsized ship is even surrounded by some sort of fog with no ships around her. When Admiral Kimmel is on the small boat touring the harbor after the attack, the Oklahoma is next to the Arizona and other battleships that seem to have been placed in a random clutter next to each other, instead of the line that they were in that morning. Even in the scene showing Pearl Harbor at an aerial view right before the attack, the Geography of Ford Island and the placement of the battleships is wrong. Battleship Row isn't even visible.

 

After the Doolittle raid, the Raiders head west to China. In one shot, however, the Raiders are shown heading away from the sun as it sets behind them, which means they are heading east and therefore back to Japan. This would be very unlikely considering the dire fuel situation on board the aircraft.

 

Factual errors

 

While attempting to free drowning sailors one engineer can be seen using a welding torch to cut the hull. The torch's sound is that of an arc welding torch which would have been too bulky and dangerous to use on a capsized vessel.

 

For reasons of expediency and the practical requirements of storytelling (and, presumably, due to some genuine errors), many of the actions and procedures depicted in the movie do not accurately reflect the actions and procedures followed by American and Japanese service personnel in 1941. Many of the events shown in the movie did not happen, or happened differently on the morning of 7 December 1941. This is not a documentary.

 

"Mitchell" Field, on Long Island, is actually called "Mitchel Field" (with one "L").

 

At that time, Japanese was written from right to left. All the Japanese characters in the movie are written from left to right, except one phrase, which says, "Empire of Japan banzai".

 

The Queen Mary was painted battleship gray in 1939 and remained that way until the end of the war, serving as a troop ship for the Royal Navy.

 

Rafe wears an Eagle Squadron badge, as do the Spitfires. The squadron code 'RF' is for No.303 Squadron, which was a Polish unit. The only Hurricane seen in the film has the correct codes for an Eagle Squadron, 'XR-T' for No.71 Squadron.

 

In preparation for the Doolittle raid on Japan, the film shows the Japanese medals being wired to the nose of the bombs, where they might interfere with detonation. Historic photos of the actual event show the medals being wired to the fins.

 

When the Doolittle raiders are practicing their takeoffs, the flags in the background indicate that they are on a downwind departure. Anyone with any knowledge of aviation knows you take off into the wind. Especially if you are trying to shorten the takeoff run.

 

After Pearl Harbor, Col Doolittle recruited Rafe and Danny to fly on the Raid on Tokyo. Rafe and Danny are single-engined fighter pilots and would not be qualified to fly multi-engined bombers. While the B-25 Mitchell bomber is an easy plane to fly, the participants would have come from qualified bombardment squadrons. As a matter of historical record, the pilots on the actual raid largely were recruited from the 34th Bombardment Squadron of the 17th Bombardment Group (aka, "The Thunderbirds").

 

During the Doolittle Raid, there is a shot of the planes flying toward the camera with the setting sun behind them. During the actual mission, the planes flew west to Japan, then continued west to China, into the setting sun, not away from it.

 

The Japenese torpedo dropped from a plane rockets on the water with its wooden frame intact. In reality, the wooden frame would detach once in the water.

 

Danny's B-25 strafes the Japanese forces that are advancing on Rafe's position after he ditches, firing the fuselage-mounted 50-caliber machine guns. The B-25B models used in the raid were not outfitted with these guns.

 

Rafe explains to the pilots, that are going to fight the Zeros that are strafing the airfield, that "P-40's can't outrun Zeros, so we're going to have to out-fly them." He has the aircraft capabilities backwards. In level flight and especially a dive, the P-40 can outrun a Zero any day. On the same note, a Zero can fly circles around a P-40. Pilots fighting the Zero in the P-40 were told to use "zoom and boom" tactics, diving on Zeros and racing away. If a P-40 pilot ever tried to out-fly a Zeros superior maneuverability, he'd be dead.

 

Only one raider died during a plane crash following the Doolittle Raid. Two others died from their injuries sustained from crashes. Five more died while in Japanese captivity (4 executed; 1 of malnutrition). However, the movie killed off several raiders inaccurately, including one from Japanese anti-aircraft fire during the actual raid.

 

Military Nurses were not permitted to wear long flowing hair styles as portrayed in the film. While in uniform, including their whites, the length permitted was just above their collars.

 

The Doolittle raid is loaded with errors. First, the 16 bombers are shown flying together at somewhat high altitude and in formation on the way to Japan, whereas each plane actually flew the mission as a single sortie at very low altitude to avoid radar detection. Next, the Japanese targets are shown to suffer very heavy bombing damage, whereas very little damage was actually done (the psychological damage to the Japanese, however, was considerable). Finally, Japanese land and air defense forces are shown to offer heavy resistance to the American bombers during the attack, whereas the bombers were not detected before the attack and were unopposed during the attack.

 

During the Japanese attack, one of their bombers that are attacking an airfield is carrying an aerial torpedo. This weapon is designed only to attack ships by being launched at low level into the water by a bomber flying toward the target, not to attack land-based targets.

 

In the several scenes showing the large Japanese fleet formation prior to the attack, the ships are so close together as to constitute an extremely serious hazard underway. Actual ship-to-ship spacing in a large carrier task force is typically 800 to 1000 yards, in which case the entire task force could not be shown, even on the widest screen available, unless photographed from a much higher altitude than as portrayed.

 

Doris Miller is shown as a petty officer second class. Miller was in fact a petty officer third class at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack.

 

Evelyn and other nurses are seen being decorated with the Purple Heart. Evelyn was not wounded in the movie; the Purple Heart is only awarded to those who have been wounded or killed.

 

During the practice runs for the Doolittle raid, the B25s are heard to squeal their tires and fishtail under the heavy throttle at takeoff. As all airplanes are prop or jet powered, not wheel powered, this would be impossible.

 

Admiral Yamamoto did not exercise tactical control over the Pearl Harbor attack, so he did not personally cancel the third wave. Decision was made by Vice-Admiral Nagumo who was the actual commander of the attacking Japanese carrier force.

 

During the presentation of medals to the Navy nurses, of which Evelyn is one, the sleeve stripes of their uniforms denote the rank of Ensign, whereas Evelyn was referred to as Lieutenant. In the U.S. Navy, Lieutenants are the equivalent of Army Captains, and Lieutenant J.G. is the equivalent of Army First Lieutenants. In either case, there should be two sleeve stripes on a Navy Lieutenant's uniform: two of the same width for a Lieutenant, and the top stripe thinner for a Lieutenant J.G.

 

At the end, during the retrospective voice-over, Dorie Miller is presented with a Navy Cross by what is portrayed as a Commander, with three stripes on the shoulder-board. Dorie Miller received his Navy Cross from Fleet Admiral (then Admiral) Chester W. Nimitz, whose shoulder board at that time would show four stars and an anchor.

 

In the scene where President Roosevelt is expressing his dismay with the Americans not doing more to aid the Aliies in Europe he mentions that the US needs to send more tanks to Britain and Russia, to provide aid. At this point in time, early 1941, Russia was still an ally of Nazi Germany. They didn't start fighting on the side of the Allies until after the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941 and were not considered part of the Allies until January 1942.

 

The Nakajima B5N "Kate" bombers armed with torpedoes were the first in the actual attack and only flew perpendicular to the ships they were attacking. They would never have flown between ships as shown multiple times in the film.

 

During the attack, Japanese planes bomb the hospital grounds and then proceed to strafe. The Japanese did not attack the hospital, which would have been a waste of scarce resources. Any damage to the hospitals and civilian buildings was caused by American anti-aircraft shells falling on them.

 

When the first B-25 is taking off the carrier, halfway down the flight deck Alec Baldwin (Doolittle) shouts "max power." In reality, each B-25 was revved to full power before the brakes were released for take off. Anything less than full power, and the planes would have crashed into the ocean.

 

During the raid on Pearl Harbor, a US Navy destroyer escort with the hull number 1041 is seen in a couple of the attack sequences. However, this ship was not commissioned until the early 1960s, and there were no US warships with hull numbers in the 1000s back in 1941.

 

During the attack 'Sgt. Earl' uses a SCR-536 'handie-talkie' to communicate with Rafe and Danny's planes. This portable radio was primarily meant for short-range tactical use among ground troops and not as a ground-to-air radio and would not have likely been issued to Air Corps units. Under absolutely ideal conditions the radio had a maximum range of 3 miles, meaning that it would have been out of range of the P-40s in the film most of the time.

 

The RAF Squadron Leader calls Rafe "Pilot Officer", an RAF rank equivalent to a US Army Second Lieutentant. As his silver bars indicate he is a First Lieutenant, he would have held the rank of "Flying Officer" in the Eagle Squadron.

 

References are made to being "thrown in the brig". Brig is a term used only by the Navy and Marines. Danny and Rafe are Army pilots, so the phrase should have been "thrown in the stockade".

 

Gooz doesn't bash the firing pin down on the Type 97 grenade before throwing it. Furthermore, the grenade was known to be weak and certainly wouldn't have had enough blast to send bodies flying.

 

President Roosevelt's declaration of war message contained no specific reference to the number of casualties (over 3000 is mentioned in the film). Such information was considered too sensitive and demoralizing to mention, and the numbers were still only estimates on December 8.

 

The tailgunner in one of the Japanese B5N "Kate" dive-bombers is seen firing an American-made M2 .30-caliber machine gun. No Japanese aircraft would be equipped with an American weapon.

 

In the scene after the attack where both main characters are donating blood, the blood is stored in open cola bottles. That process would dry and clot the blood, making it useless for medicinal purposes. (Not to mention blood poisoning due to microbes present in the air)

 

When the Japanese patrol boats are contacted, it is said that they are 400 yards away. At a distance of 400 yards ships at sea are in danger of colliding, not just being spotted. The actual sighting was made at 10,000 yards. Further, such a sighting was no great surprise, since an air patrol had spotted Japanese ships earlier that morning.

 

The USS Oklahoma when shown capsized has for shaft/propellers in fact she was a twin shaft ship.

 

In the film a cage mast is shown collapsing. Four ships had these that day and none collapsed.

 

In the scene where Danny and Rafe arrive at the airfield where their planes are during the attack, Earl the mechanic fires 11 shots from his Model 1897 Trench Shotgun in rapid succession at the Japanese planes. The 1897 is only capable of holding 6 shells.

 

A Japanese gunner is seen firing a Browning machine gun during the attack. In reality, the Japanese rear gunners during the attack used the Type 92 LMG, a Japanese copy of the aircraft version of the Lewis Gun.

 

When the Japanese are shown planning the attack, there is a scene showing several models in the water, including one representing a repair ship, USS Vestal, that was moored alongside the Arizona on December 6 to assist in some repairs. There was no way for the Japanese to know ahead of time she would be there.

 

The car the heroes drive to the airfield in is strafed by a zero. The large-caliber armor-piercing ammunition that can rip airplanes and ships to pieces does only cosmetic damage to the car.

 

At the end of the film we are told that the raid on Tokyo forced upon the Japanese the need to withdraw from their conquests. In reality the raid led the Japanese to try to expand their conquests to provide better protection to the home islands. This led directly to their defeat at the Battle of Midway, and the subsequent reconquest of the Pacific. The Japanese never willingly gave up their conquests, hence the hard fighting the allies had to endure.

 

Before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Admiral Chester Nimitz is shown in Washington DC tracking the movements of the Japanese carrier fleet. He has the four stripes of a full admiral on his uniform sleeves. Yet before Pearl Harbor Nimitz's rank was only Rear Admiral (upper half) with two stripes. His promotion to full Admiral was awarded on December 31st, three and a half weeks after Pearl Harbor. Also, prior to Pearl Harbor Nimitz was Chief of the Bureau of Navigation working primarily in a personnel role. He was not the ranking officer planning war strategy in the Pacific from intelligence reports.

 

During the Doolittle raid, as the B-25's are taking off from the Hornet they are portrayed as barely making off the deck. In reality the planes were literally leaping off the deck. The takeoff speed for the B-25 is about 80 M.P.H., the carrier sped up to about 25 M.P.H. and there was about a 40 M.P.H. wind blowing for a total of 65 M.P.H. before the planes even started rolling. They only needed about 15 M.P.H. more to become airborne. In short they were lifting off way before the calculated lift-off point. The only plane to have a close call was the one flown by Ted Lawson, the author of "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" and that's because he forgot to put his flaps down.

 

 

Miscellaneous

 

All of the ships shown in the attack sequence have their Naval (bow) registry numbers painted over with an off color hue on the hull. Also they have radar and antennas that do not belong on ships supposedly constructed prior to 1941.

[patches]

It was a shame. So much money was thrown into making it, and yet they turned it into a real dog of a movie. Can you imagine if they had done somewhat of a remake of "Tora-Tora-Tora" with the resources and money they had available for this movie?!?

 

Leave TORA TORA TORA as is, no remake, are you kidding me, if they where to do it you can rest assured it will be not like the original, it will be loaded with PC crap, with other areas being the focus, its also doubtfull that the actors that will be cast will have the same charator and presence as the ones in the 1970 movie.

[ArchangelDM]

Well that definatley decribes in great detail what was clearly wrong with the film. Took me 10 minutes to read it all but I'm actually disgusted that the film makers would disgrace the American heroes of pearl harbour with these massive factual errors. What a serious serious mistake to make :thumbdown:

[ArchangelDM]

Ps great thread by the way :thumbsup:

[patches]

When someone speaks of historical inaccuracies, I think something must be wrong with the events of the day. Everyone has mentioned how horrible the film was from a plot/storyline or from a uniform error. No one has said what is truly wrong with the movie from a historical perspective.

 

What is wrong with the battle sequences? What in the events of Pearl Harbor and the Doolittle Raid are incorrect?

 

Thanks, Kat

 

These errors will be related to the Battle sequences at Pearl and other points on Oahu.

 

On the japanese end for instance from the above IMBD site.

 

The Japanese zero aircraft depicted in the film are green, even though the ones used in the real attack in 1941 were painted grey. The Japanese Navy didn't paint their zeroes green until 1943

 

 

Japanese pilots are shown putting on white rising sun headbands and drinking a cup of sake before the takeoff. This ritual was created for the "special attack" (kamikaze) units and did not appear until almost three years later

 

The Japenese torpedo dropped from a plane rockets on the water with its wooden frame intact. In reality, the wooden frame would detach once in the water.

 

During the Japanese attack, one of their bombers that are attacking an airfield is carrying an aerial torpedo. This weapon is designed only to attack ships by being launched at low level into the water by a bomber flying toward the target, not to attack land-based targets.

 

 

 

In the several scenes showing the large Japanese fleet formation prior to the attack, the ships are so close together as to constitute an extremely serious hazard underway. Actual ship-to-ship spacing in a large carrier task force is typically 800 to 1000 yards, in which case the entire task force could not be shown, even on the widest screen available, unless photographed from a much higher altitude than as portrayed.

 

 

Admiral Yamamoto did not exercise tactical control over the Pearl Harbor attack, so he did not personally cancel the third wave. Decision was made by Vice-Admiral Nagumo who was the actual commander of the attacking Japanese carrier force.

 

The Nakajima B5N "Kate" bombers armed with torpedoes were the first in the actual attack and only flew perpendicular to the ships they were attacking. They would never have flown between ships as shown multiple times in the film.

 

During the attack, Japanese planes bomb the hospital grounds and then proceed to strafe. The Japanese did not attack the hospital, which would have been a waste of scarce resources. Any damage to the hospitals and civilian buildings was caused by American anti-aircraft shells falling on them.

 

A Japanese gunner is seen firing a Browning machine gun during the attack. In reality, the Japanese rear gunners during the attack used the Type 92 LMG, a Japanese copy of the aircraft version of the Lewis Gun.

 

When the Japanese are shown planning the attack, there is a scene showing several models in the water, including one representing a repair ship, USS Vestal, that was moored alongside the Arizona on December 6 to assist in some repairs. There was no way for the Japanese to know ahead of time she would be there

[cutiger83]

Factual errors

 

Thank you! This is what I was interested in.....Kat

[cutiger83]

These errors will be related to the Battle sequences at Pearl and other points on Oahu.

 

Thank you! This is exactly what I was interested in.....Kat

[patches]

Thank you! This is exactly what I was interested in.....Kat

 

Ok now you copy and past from our end. there will of course be more then is listed in the IBDM site, my ERROR contrabution ( AMOUG MANY I SEEN ) the wearing of the U.S.NAVY E ribbon on a swabie's blue jumper- problem the NAVY E ribbon was not introduced till 1976.