WAR MOVIE BLUNDERS

[303lithgow]

I see at the bottom of your post that you were a cannon-cocker with A/2-35th Artillery. I'll bet you were on a 155. You guys supported the 199th at FSB Mace, FSB Den, FSB Sun and a few others north of of Xuan Loc in 69 and 70, along with a couple of the other infantry battalions. Were you there with them at that time?

 

 

Finally,

 

Welcome Home!

 

I was with the unit that night but these two emails capture what happened better than I could say but I would like to mention that the 155 howitzers did almost all of the return direct fire. I knew Danny Woods well as our tours were almost entirely at the same time. I don't remember John at all. The artilleryman killed was Bruce Wold.

 

This was written by John R. Irvin a member of A btry 2/35th

 

I'm going to relate what I remember about "A" Battery and the 18th of April 1970 affair.

 

As I remember it and have in my letters home:

 

On 7 April 70 we pulled into FSB Dinh II. (In some records I have it Dien II) We had been at FSB Mace on 28 February 70. I don't know if we came straight from there or had a couple of stops on the way.

Anyway we were at Vo Xu (Xo Xu?). I remember it was dry, because the FDC was dug in. I think the guns may have been also, but know for sure we had berms around them. Looking out of the entry way of the FSB I remember a road ran from the town direction, to our right. The road was an easy stones throw (20-25 meters) and the bush on the other side of the road was back 75-100 meters.

 

I remember the "pond" that was on the other side of the FSB. "Doc"

put about a ton of chemicals in the water and declared it "safe" and we used it for the "bath" until it got so bad and the water level went down to where even we knew it was not good to be in it.

 

The FSB must have been in the 4/12th 199th AO. I think this is correct, because on 14 April 70 I went for one day as FO with them.

They used the FSB to bring troops in and out of the bush. I remember a battery of 8" was on the FSB with us for a couple of days and the grunts had a 4.2 motor outfit attached to them. We had at least two dusters. One was at the entry way and my mind leads me to remember the other one on the backside of the FSB, but I can not be sure.

 

On 14 April 70 we received 8 rounds of incoming mortors. Guess that was their registration!

 

The events leading up to the big fight when like this if I'm correct.

 

First the 8" guys got pulled out. That started spreading us out.

Making for more area to guard. I don't think the outside berm was pulled back. Then the Company of grunts (fresh) were pulled out and the dudes that had been in the field for God-knows-how-long were brought in to, sleep, I mean to guard us. When the grunts left they took the 4.2 with them. More area to guard. I don't know how many of you will remember this, but on the evening of the 17th, someone thought it would be a good idea to blast the treeline. I remember every swinging one of us out there standing on the berm, right out there were we all could have been blown away, blasting away with all of our M-16s, M-60s, 50-Cal. and the dusters ripping up the bush.

And, you have to know that all of the zips were already laying out there just waiting to clean our plows. Say what you want, but if it had been most of us we would have jumped up and started shooting back.

 

Around the midnight, 0100 time, the dusters reported to the FDC some movement in the treeline. Ken Jones was the XO and I think he had us call the CO of the grunts to get permission (see there that crappy permission thing again) to fire a few rounds and see what jumped. The CO, a Major I think, said it was just friendlies and no we could not fire. About an hour later the dusters called in again and said they could see movement for sure and our dogs were growling.

Again we called for permission and again we were told no. And this time we were told not to call again. We started getting reports from all over the place that people were not just crawling up to the FSB, but some of them were out and out walking up to the wire. Everyone was asking for permission to do something. One of the duster, I think it was by the entry way, said to call the Major and have him come out there and he could talk to the bastards. At about 0300 we called the CO. At about this time everyone was going crazy. I don't know who gave the order to fire or if there was one. I remember the sound of mortor round after mortor round taking off and the dusters opening up at the same time. There were RPGs going off and our guns started shooting. One or two guns started putting up illuminations and the rest started Direct fire. I later found out that several of the crews got hit running to the guns. I don't think any gun had but two or three guys that could operate fully. The mortors fell not only on the guns, dead bang, but hit where the NCOs and Officers hooches were, dead on. At the first shot the FDC started calling for Medivac, air and gunships. I remember Bn. asking if we thought we would need Medical Choppers.....and thinking what stupid people they were.

 

Ken Jones came into the FDC and took me with him, since we really did not need the FDC to shoot Direct Fire. We went out to I think it

was Gun 1. It was right next to the berm. Everyone had been wounded

and the probe was coming hard there (hell it was hard everywhere) since we did not have any fire going out. I remember lots of guys carrying others back wounded. It was eerie going out to the guns, but I can't remember any sounds. Guess that's what happens when the crap is scared out you. With the illum. going up and floating back it was like one of those old war flicks. Ken and I shot the gun for a while.

I know we had to leave it and I think it was because it got hit by an RPG. I'd like to compare notes with Ken some time. I do remember we would throw power and rounds into the back and then crawl in and shot whatever we could stuff into the gun, then go out and do it all again.

I guess it's true God watches out for the fools, since neither of us got hit. In some places it got up close and personnal.....hand-to-hand.

 

I remember us getting air support. I think we got Gun ships and old WWII airplanes and choppers came in. There might have been a jet or two also.

 

With all that went on I can not believe we only had one killed. And the count of 23 wounded seems low. Just about everyone had something cut, shot or bang-up. I pulled scrap metal out for a couple of years.

But, when compared to guys that were burnt and shot up, it didn't compare. And we will forget about the Sgt. that hid under the sandbags and was taken away a day or two later. Chicken.....The crew turned him in. And when I got back to the states he was in my unit for awhile.....a short while.

 

I know for sure we had one gun burnt up, but it seems like we lost three total. One of the things that came out of this scrap was we got rid of the basic load inside the guns, if I remember correctly. Seems that gave the Ordinance guys fits. We had WP rounds laying around, powder blown every direction and HE scattered everywhere. The old mess duce an 1/2 got shot up and we thought we'd get a new truck, no such luck. They fixed that piece of junk and sent it back to us. Our water trailer got hit and we only had a small amount of water for the next couple of days. We did give a couple of gallons to the guy that used the latrine for a foxhole though....that's another story for another day.

 

The report I got was there was about 350 of them attacking us. I also heard they had 21 tubes for mortors. They had FOs in the trees around the outside of the FSB and had three layers of wire ran so they could adjust fire and talk even if one run of wire was cut. The next day, we spotted one in a tree and can you say dead man............after everyone shot at him he was.

 

Seems like the fun lasted until past daylight.

 

After a few days, when we had been resupplied, got new guns and a few of the guys back, I thinks we went to Duster Compound. A lot of the guys thought we would get a standdown. What we got was our "go to Cambodia" orders. Only a few knew where we were going. I was told to get "C's" for 30 days out and kind of picked up on some rumors. Can anyone remember the Captain from Bn. that went with us? He had this thing about being in uniform. Always on the guys about wearing shirts and hats. The guys in the FDC must have thrown away and burned a half-dozen of his hats and he always had a replacement. They gave him a ration of crap and he just took it. By the time we came out of Cambodia I think he was ready to go back to Bn.

 

Here is a reply by Danny Woods

John

Thanks for your information of what happened the 18 of april. I remember some of what happened but that fills in some holes. I thought the incoming starrted around 10pm, but i guess it just seemed that long. I remember I was already pulled off the guns and was getting ready to leave the battery the next day when it all happened. I dont remember the name of the FSB but the way you explained it it sounds quite right. I remember being in a bunker asleep when the mortors starting coming in. i remember Me and some one else seeing a dog out in front of our bunker with a gunshot wound or shratmetal. I dont even know what happened to the dog. It was crazy. We ran to what I thought was Gun 1 but I could be mistaken too. Gun one was the gun I was chief of section of most of the time I was in nam. We were wating to get permission to fire when a grunt or duster man crawled up. I think he was shot in the legs and could not walk. We pulled him in the gun and he was laying on the floor. You could see the gooks standing on the bearm when the word came to fire. There was only three or four guys in the gun but we started firing direct fire at the tree line. Someone grabed an

m16 and starting shoooting at the berm when the dusters and the grunts started firing. It was crazy. I remember we had a side door open so we could see what was going on and that stupid light on. We seen the trail of the RPG coming at us before it hit. Someone hollered we are going to get hit when it blew. The gun started to burn from the powder charges we had laying in the window getting ready to fire. I was on the gunner side. and me and a couple of other guys crawled out the drivers hatch. I think I was second and Barry Lemons was first. The guy behind me I thought was the gun chief. I cant even remember his mame. When we got out we were burned a little but not bad. Me and the guy behind me run to the back door and because we heard a guy screaming inside. I think it was the guy who couldn't walk. I think we grabed him and tried to pull him out when another powder charge went off. He was hurt bad and so were we.

We rolled around on the ground trying to put our clothes out. We all got to the aid station and I remember talking to the CO and the first sergent when another gun went up in fire. I said lets get away from these guns before one of those cofram rounds blow. They were five of them on each gun wired in the back. We were not allowed to fire them because they were so special or something. I think that is the ICM round you spoke of. I remember Ken Jones coming up and kinda chewing on the Captain and telling him how stupid this was and to look at all the guys hurt, He even said look at woods and he is leaving in the morning. The first sergent was standing ther holding an M16 when we looked at the berm and there were 2 gooks standing there getting ready to shoot an RPG when he opened fire on them They diasppeared off the berm. I dont know if he hit them or not. I remember the planes and the choppers. I thought it was a long time before they got medivacs in and we were scared to shinola we were going to be totally over run. I dont remember seeing the Battery Chief. I hope he was not the sergent you spoke of that was hiding under the sand bags.

I thought we were getting ready to go to Cambodia again. I thought we were there once and month or so before but I could be mistaken.

They didn't tell us gun jockeys much. I have never talked to anybody from A battery since getting back to the states. It was only me and Barry Lemons in the hospital in Fort Sam. We were in the hospital in nam first and I remember the captain coming in and talking to us a little but we were awfully druged up. I remember a general pinning a purple heart on my pillow. I dont know who he was either. Probably for publicity. I thought the guy who helped drag the grunt out must of died because I dont remember him after the hospital in Nam. I remembered they pulled this thing around him and then he was gone. I sure would like to know who he was and where he lived. What a waste.

Well thanks for the Info.

 

A Btry 2/35th Arty received a Valorous Unit Citation for the actions of that night.

 

In your second link they said we only received small damage but three howizters were blown into a million pieces. Our Captain wrote a 52 page report about actions leading up to the 18th and our time in Cambodia but I'll only shere that with those that write and request it.

[439th Signal Battalion]

The men who wrote those letters are spot-on and they capture the essence of what happed at the FSB that night.

 

The grunts mentioned in the first letter were from the 4-12th Infantry, 199th LIB, and they had been out in the bush on operation for weeks. They thought that they were going to have a couple days rest at the firebase. The other artillerymen, aside from A/2-35 on the firebase was a section of 105's from C/2-40th Artillery, 199th LIB.

 

The one KIA mentioned was 1LT James F. Deeble, 23 of Nevada City, California. 1LT Deeble was an FO for C/2-40th Artillery. He had only been at this FSB for a single day before the firefight. (Deeble was an experienced officer, having served with the 5-12th Infantry before). He was killed when a satchel charge was thrown into or near the FDC by an NVA sapper. Some believe that the NVA incoming was a diversion as the sappers were already in the wire when the incoming and RPG's began raining down...

 

For what's its worth, some of the 199th grunts watched the NVA blowing bugles before coming out of the village and treeline.

[303lithgow]

The men who wrote those letters are spot-on and they capture the essence of what happed at the FSB that night.

 

The grunts mentioned in the first letter were from the 4-12th Infantry, 199th LIB, and they had been out in the bush on operation for weeks. They thought that they were going to have a couple days rest at the firebase. The other artillerymen, aside from A/2-35 on the firebase was a section of 105's from C/2-40th Artillery, 199th LIB.

 

The one KIA mentioned was 1LT James F. Deeble, 23 of Nevada City, California. 1LT Deeble was an FO for C/2-40th Artillery. He had only been at this FSB for a single day before the firefight. (Deeble was an experienced officer, having served with the 5-12th Infantry before). He was killed when a satchel charge was thrown into or near the FDC by an NVA sapper. Some believe that the NVA incoming was a diversion as the sappers were already in the wire when the incoming and RPG's began raining down...

 

For what's its worth, some of the 199th grunts watched the NVA blowing bugles before coming out of the village and treeline.

 

I don't remember a village but the treeline was certainly there.

 

A Btry 2/35th lost one person also but he died about two days later so they might not have known about him. The enemy was not able to take over the howitzers and that was the first time in VN that they were not able to get to the guns with as many troops that they had. That is why we earned the Valorous Unit Citation. They never even got inside the perimeter although they were at the very edge. Some of the fighting was as close as ten feet apart. Abount a year earlier B Battery was attacted at Xuan Loc and the enemy captured the guns and was using them against the battery. They lost 13 artillerymen that night and received no unit awards.

 

The attacking force on A Btry on 18 April 70 was from the 333rd NVA Regiment. They were the elite NVA fighters and was the unit that later captured Saigon.

 

Can I ask how you know what you know? Where you there? In reading the article I disagree with some of what it said. The infantry did very little to fight the emeny back. It was almost all howitzers, dusters, and we had 2 quad fifties. I'm not saying the infantry didn't do their job I'm saying we were outnumbered about 10 to 1 and small arms fire had little impact.

[439th Signal Battalion]

PM sent to you.

[mower66]

Great info and taken in...you guys know your stuff....could read that for hours.....but it did distract me from the thread....please can you guys carry on with a new thread....would love to read it

[Bluehawk]

Jeff Bridges in LAST PICTURE SHOW, not a war film, but seems to me to be a very excessive use of collar brass on this Ike, no?

[B229]

Jeff Bridges in LAST PICTURE SHOW, not a war film, but seems to me to be a very excessive use of collar brass on this Ike, no?

 

The movie takes place in 1951-52, so the "double brass" was going out, but still around. Much more common in the late forties, but not unheard of in the early fifties.

[willysmb44]

What drives me nuts is on the show, “NCIS” (which my wife loves and I despise) , people ID each other much formally than they would in real life. Just the other night, a Marine O-2 comes up and introduces himself as “First Lieutenant [whatever his name was]”. You often hear full NCO ranks being repeated over and over again, by military and civilians, and all the primary cast are always called, “Special Agent” each time. Sorry, but I served and I would NEVER have ID’d myself by 1st or 2nd LT when I was either of those. I was just “Lieutenant”, period. An NCO to me was simply “Sergeant” unless a First SGT or SGT Major. That’s how people really say it. And as for agent this and that? I dealt with CID twice for issues in my company and had very little respect for the people I dealt with. I was told that they’re all either NCOs or warrant officers, but the ones I talked with acted like Generals. I’ll never forget the first time one came into my orderly room. The guy looked like he was about 12 years old and had just bought a bad suit at K Mart:

CID agent: “I’m looking for Specialists Smedlap and Tentpeg.”

Me: “Yeah, you’re with CID, right? I have an NCO getting them, they should be down here in a minute.”

CID agent: “You mean, “down in a minute, Agent.”

Me: ”Say what?”

CID agent: “I CID. You will address me as ‘Agent’.”

Me: “Fine. Then you can address me as SIR and stand at attention while you do so.”

CID agent: Dead silence. He never said another thing to anyone and left when the offending Specialists showed up in silence.

:w00t:

Everyone in the orderly room was trying to choke down laughter, and busted out screaming laughing after he left. My First SGT came up later that day and said, “Sir, I wish I’d been there to see that! If that’d been me, I’d have locked the kid up at parade rest and read him the riot act.”

[mackinturk]

my thing with movies is the explosions or the bombs and missiles on the planes. other people have pointed out that explosions always look more like a tub of gasoline or diesel going up than an actual grenade/mortar/bomb. they do this because it looks bigger and cooler on screen than a big puff of smoke, a small flash, and lots of little pieces flying around. also, missiles always seem a lot slower on screen then they actually are, like in Independence Day with all the sidewinders they fire that go about 5mph. they all also seem to be dummy trainers loaded on all the planes, since they almost always have a blue band, or in the case of AIM-9s, don't even have an active guidance unit. in Stealth, some of the "missiles" they use are actually guided bombs.

 

the best is still Top Gun though. F-5s used as "MIG-28s".

[emccomas]

I watched a military movie this past weekend and one scene got me wondering if the Military Advisor was out to lunch when the scene was filmed.

 

It got me thinking about other movie bloopers, blunders, historical inacccuracies related to US decorations, medals, ribbons, etc.

 

OK, what I saw:

 

Movie: The Tuskeegee Airman - set in WWII.

 

Scene: Commanding officer hands a medal case to one of the his pilots (Lawrence Fishburne) while standing across a desk from each other. Pilot opens the case and inside is a Distinguished Flying Cross. CO states that it is a shame that another pilot wasn't there to get the medal (since he had recently been killed in combat). DFC was for strafing and destroying a German Destroyer ship.

 

Blooper: Could not tell much about the medal, since it was in the case...a current issue blue leatherette case. How hard would it have been to locate a coffin case for this DFC?

 

I know a small detail, but one that really stood out in my mind.

 

I started a thread in Decorations and Medals with this comment. I wanted to focus on decorations and medals, but it was pointed out that this comment might be apropriate for this thread.

[Ricardo]

Pearl Harbor (2001) is the winner ... 175 mistakes ... some ones:

 

At the beginning of the film there are some newsreel bits showing the war in Europe giving the background for the historical setting circa 1939-40. In one of these, for about 2-3 seconds you see a M-26 Pershing next to a wall. The M-26 Pershing wasn´t introduced until early 1945 when it entered the war in Europe.

 

When Danny and Rafe are in the dogfight with the Japanese, they are seen flying over the Waiawa Naval Communications Station and its satellite dishes...

 

There is no way that anyone in Hawaii could have listened to the radio chatter among Doolittle's raiders. First, because the planes were flying separately on different routes, not as a group, and were observing radio silence, so there was nothing to hear. But mainly, because the radios used for inter-plane communication are low-power short-range units. Long-range communication was carried out by each plane's radio operator, using Morse code. Long-range voice communication by radio was not possible back then.

 

When Rafe and Evelyn are on the platform by the side of the Queen Mary, the platform is going up, but the ropes are not moving through the pulleys.

 

The landstripe seen at the bottom of the Cliffs of Dover in the Battle of Britain scene shouldn't be there. It was created as the Brits built their side of the Eurotunnel, completed in 1994...

 

In the scene near the beginning of the movie where Rafe is being reprimanded by Maj. Doolittle for stunt flying, Rafe starts to talk about the various accomplishments that Doolittle has to his credit. The scene shifts to Doolittle and you can see in the background some of the trophies that he won in various air races and endurance tests. One of the trophies has a small model of an F-86 Sabre jet. The scene takes place in early 1941 and the F-86 didn't exist until the 1950's. In fact, jets weren't around until the end of the war and mostly in the hands of the Germans.

 

There is an old mahogany speedboat in the movie. The movie is set in 1941, the speedboat is a 1955-1958 Chris Craft Capri.

 

As the Doolittle Raiders are taking off from the aircraft carrier there are several sweeping views of the carrier task force as the planes fly off. The decks of the carriers are obviously modern US carriers with the landing portion of the flight deck angled out about 25 degrees from the catapult direction of the flight deck.

 

During the scene when Rafe and Danny are in the P-40's shooting down a few of the Japanese planes, they fly through some smoke from the burning ships, their prop wash makes the smoke swirl all around. But, a few minutes before that, when two Zero's fly through some smoke, the smoke doesn't move at all, almost as though the planes were never really there...

 

the control tower scene after the stunt flying, look closely in the background and you will see the shapes of E-2 Hawkeyes. The E-2 wasn't in service until the early 60's.

 

When they show the whole fleet sailing, there is clearly a nuclear submarine out front. It is easily distinguished by its teardrop shaped hull.

 

When Eveleyn and Rafe were going to the Queen Mary, you can see to the left the modern buildings for the actual New York.

 

In the beginning of the film, there are scenes at "Mitchell Field" on Long Island, New York. The actual spelling is "Mitchel Field."

 

When the MPs drive on to the golf course to alert the commander of the attack, the Jeep they're driving is a Korean War era M-38.

 

The hangar used in the "Mitchell" Field scene is the same one used later in the film as Clark Field, with the world "Mitchell" removed, leaving only the word "Field."

 

One of the intelligence photos taken by the japanese spies shows a North Carolina class battleship which wasn't in Pearl Harbor at that time.

 

In the scene where the Japanese planes are taking off, there is a shot where, in the upper left hand corner, you can get a glimpse of the helicopter that the crew used to film aerial shots.

 

The P-40s depicted in the movie were later models that were not around during Pearl Harbor. The ones used in filming were probably either P-40Ks, P-40Ms, or P-40Ns instead of the historically correct P-40Bs or P-40Cs that were around at the time of the attack. This is noticeable because the planes in the movie have three guns mounted on each wing while a correct P-40 would have two mounted on each wing and two on the engine crowling.

 

In the scene where the nurses walk among the flag-draped coffins after the attack, the nurses are in stylish civilian outfits. Those nurses are all Naval personnel, and once war was declared they were ordered to be in uniform at all times, except when in the privacy of their quarters.

 

Admiral Kimmel is shown on the golf course when he first receives word of a Japanese submarine attack. Although he was planning to golf that morning with Army General Short, he actually received the ominous report at home, and then proceeded to Pearl Harbor.

 

Another indication that "Doolittle's Raiders" took off from a modern-day carrier - you can see a steam-powered catapult on the deck.

 

During the Battle of Britain sequence, in the scene where Rafe gets shot down he can't open his canopy to bail out so he shoots holes in it with his pistol. In the wide shots of the plane the canopy is whole.

 

In one of the dogfight scenes a Japanese Zero crashes into a tower. It's a quick shot, but you can still see that what crashes is an American P-40 with Japanese markings.

 

When Rafe and Danny are taking off, in the view from the Zero the tails on the P-40's are up, next view they are down, and next shot they are up again.

 

In the scene where the U.S.S. Oklahoma capsizes, she clearly rolls to the port side. When the bow comes into the air, one can see a hole on the starboard side; obviously from a torpedo. This cannot be. The starboard side was facing the U.S.S. Maryland and thus protected from arial torpedoes. That hole should not be there.

 

The British squadron Rafe served in had the "RF" radio ID markings. These were assigned to the Polish 303 squadron, so the planes should have additional Polish markings on the engine cowling (apart from standard British ones) plus the squadron logo.

 

When Rave and Danny take off during the attack their canopies are open. In the next shot from behind you can see that the canopies have closed themselves.

 

At the launch of the Dolittle raiders, the seas were stormy with waves breaking over the carrier's bow, not completely calm, as shown in the movie.

 

In one scene before the battle starts, a crew member is having his P-40 decorated with noseart. However, before late 1942, noseart wasn't allowed by the USAAF, unless you had a commander who really didn't mind. Lieutenant General Walter Short, who was in charge of the P-40's at Pearl Harbor, wasn't one of those commanders.

 

In the scene where the USS Arizona is going down sideways, there is water pouring down the deck. This should not happen considering that the ship is sinking the other way and the water wouldn't be bursting out of the cracks in the dock.

 

In the scene where Admiral Kimmel is inspecting the crew of the battleship an aide comes up with a message to send some ships to the Atlantic. Admiral Kimmel starts complaining about the orders. No Admiral would ever do this especially in front of enlisted men. In fact he was placed in charge of the Pacific fleet when his predecessor complained about moving the fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor.

 

Doolittle's B25s were an early version, while in the scene aboard the carrier, they have side gun mountings and four-point fifties in bulges on both sides of the nose. These were implemented in much later B25G versions.

 

The Zeros in the movie are not the right model for the attack on Pearl Harbor. The ones featured in the film are exact replicas of A6M5 Zeros which can be denoted by looking at the engine exhaust ports. The A6M5 did not come out until later in the war. The correct model should be the A6M2.

 

The B-25's used for the Doolittle raid were "B" models, yet a number of aircraft were shown equipped with 50 caliber guns in cheek blisters, a modification that did not occur until the "H" model came out later in the war.

 

During the scene in which the Japanese are planning the attack, one shot has several of the Japanese Officers looking at aerial photographs of the harbor. These pictures appear to be attached to some sort of poster board and on the back of one of them is the "Recycled Paper" emblem (the three arrows bent back on each other). Visible on the DVD.

 

In the scene where Rafe and Danny are kids fooling around in their father's cropduster the plane is a PT-17 Stearman or similar model. This plane was not in regular military usage until after 1934 and did not find its way into civilian hands until after WWII.

 

When the raiders are just over their targets, the pilots of the flights order bombs away and the bombs immediately drop. The problem with this is it's the bombardiers job to decide when to drop the bombs on the target. If the pilot dropped the bombs, you wouldn't need the bombardier or the bomb sight.

 

In January, 1942, US National insignia deleted the red ball in the center of the star. The Doolittle raiders are depicted with the old insignia, and while this was accurate on the fuselage and wing bottom, official US Navy photographs show that at least some of the B-25's had the newer insignia on the top left wing.

 

As the Japanese fleet steams toward its launch point, there is a close up of the nose of a B5N1 Kate torpedo bomber with its distinctive two-bladed propeller. Trouble is, the Kates used against Pearl Harbor were B5N2's, with a two row radial and 3-bladed prop.

 

At the RAF airfield, Spitfires are shown lined up right in front of the ground crew's tents. After almost two years at war, and with Luftwaffe attacks still a regular occurrence, it seems highly unlikely that any RAF squadron would be stupid enough to try and sleep on top of their aircraft, which might be bombed or strafed at any time. In reality the only thing that close to the aircraft would have been the dispersal hut where pilots on readiness that day would wait for a scramble order.

 

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.

 

In the scene showing the bomb on its way down to destroy the USS Arizona, the bomb is a conventional aerial bomb purpose-built for anti-ship use. Historical records state that the Japanese had no armor piercing bombs ready for the attack, so they modified conventional battleship shells with wooden fins instead.

 

While Rafe is on the beach during the training to take off from an aircraft carrier, and burning some letters, mountains are noticed in the background while he is conversing with Danny. The actual location for this training took place on the historic "Doolittle Ramp" located at Hurlburt Field, Florida, near Eglin Air Force Base. The site is within 100 yards of the beach among numerous trees. There are no mountains (low hills maybe) in Florida.

 

When Rafe first presents himself at the RAF base, there is a scene with two Spits having the same RF-M squadron designators. Since this was the way individual aircraft were identified, such a thing would never come to pass.

 

When Doolittle's raiders are first starting to practice short takeoffs, the flaps of the planes aren't extended in close ups but would have to be for takeoff especially short takeoffs. Planes shown taking off have the flaps extended. In the real takeoff from The Hornet, One pilot retracted his flaps because prop wash from previous planes was lifting his plane. He then forgot about it and took off without flaps extended and was only saved by the heavy wind and forward speed of the carrier. There is actual video of the plane nearly hitting the ocean.

 

In the RAF squadron scene, the lined up Spitfires are the wrong mark for the period. For early 1941, the correct mark would have been a mark V. The Spitfires are later, as they have six exhaust outlets per side, and several have four-bladed propellers, neither feature being present on mark V Spitfires.

 

During the Air raid scramble of the RAF squadron, one pilot behind the RAF mechanic can be seen to be boarding a Hawker Hurricane, not a Spitfire. As far as I am aware, Hurricanes and Spitfires were never operated in mixed units. Squadrons had one or the other.

 

When Rafe comes to England he gets a damaged Spitfire to counter the Luftwaffe. If you ignore the fact that he should at least make some flying hours in a Spit before going into combat, no one had to fly a shot-up Spit during the Battle of Britain, since Spitfire production could quite well keep up with the war losses. It was lack of fighter pilots that almost caused Britain's defeat.

 

All of Jimmy Doolittle's "raiders" had leather flight jackets prepared especially for their mission to bomb Tokyo. On the back of the jackets was a message written in large Chinese characters that explained who they were so the Chinese (if the crew were lucky enough to reach unoccupied China which was the original plan) would not kill them. I also believe there were large U.S. flags and Chinese flags (the old Republic of China style) painted or sewn on the back of these jackets as well. This important costume detail was omitted in the movie.

 

Near the end of the Tokyo raid, Col. Doolittle orders his radio operator to "break radio silence" so he can address the rest of the planes. For the duration of the raid, though, intelligence officers had been listening to radio transmissions back at Pearl (other users have already commented that this in itself is a historical error). If these transmissions were being heard at Pearl, there was obviously no radio silence to begin with.

 

In the first view of Pearl Harbor, just before the nurses are shown in the small transport boat as they arrive at Pearl, you clearly see the Arizona Memorial in the background as the camera pans down from sky to harbour.

 

The four U.S. Navy ships moored side-by-side shown in the film during the attack are mothballed Spruance Class Guided Missile Destroyers built during the late 1970s. The large boxes near their bows are box launchers for anti-submarine rockets, known as ASROCs.

 

One shot of the "Japanese fleet" at sea clearly shows a nuclear-powered super-carrier, surrounded by guided missile-armed cruisers and destroyers.

 

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.

 

In the scene where President Roosevelt is sitting at the table talking to the joint chiefs etc., the camera pans around the table and as it passes General Marshall, it shows what appears to be a Vietnam service ribbon in the cluster on his chest.

 

More in http://www.moviemistakes.com/film964/page1

 

BR, Ricardo.

[J_Andrews]

Pearl Harbor, more:

 

Per the specific demands of direction of Director Cameron:

 

The Army people are wearing BLACK shoes

 

The nurses are wearing white SUMMER Class A uniforms, in WINTER, and while at work in the hospital

[Garandomatic]

I never knew how much I hated Pearl Harbor till now.

 

Not sure if it's been noticed or not, but in Band of Brothers, when Winters blows the German gun, he doesn't yank that tape/string that you pull to arm the grenade. Just noticed it again today.

[Theblackbox]

We really do need a GOOD World War I movie. So far, I have been pretty disappointed.

 

I think 'Jojeux Noël' (Merry Christmas) from 2005 was a very good WW1 movie.

 

I can watch old movies and notice mistakes without to much trouble sometimes it makes me smile, though I have to say the German desert attack in 'Patton' was painfull to watch. Not only the Israeli Super Shermans but how truely studidious and clumsy it looked. Surely, if they were that stupid why did the Germans held out for another two years?

 

Saving Private Ryan was fun to watch, but the cliche errors of too much shots without reloading etc. made me frown when I rewatched it. Furthermore the bridges the 101st are holding over the river were in fact objectives of the 82nd, giving the credit to the right unit please. Also the depiction of the 2. SS Panzer Das Reich with Tiger tanks on this location and in this stage of the Normandy campaign made it stink like just another Hollywood magic show, sorry to those out there who are real SPR fans!

[RustyCanteen]

I'm still trying to figure out what the deal was in SPR with the M1 rifle used by one of the beach battalion guys (the one who shoots the surrendering guys). IIRC it had a slot in the buttstock like a K98k for a pull through sling.

 

It's been several years since I watched but I believe that was the scene it was in.

[RustyCanteen]

I overlook the "errors" with PH when it comes to post WW2 items since they were very limited by what still exists from the pre war era. What bothered me more was that the ship sets were obviously out of order.

 

But one that stood out for me in the theater. When Dorie Miller is carrying the tray (just as the guy gets on the "horn" with the warning), he sets the tray down and starts running topside, to the left a guy from the production crew can be seen with his hand sticking into the scene.

 

Those are what I consider big errors.

[Oddball]

Full Metal Jacket. Still one of my favorite movies.

- Wrong flack jackets.

- The shadow of the Jetranger cast by the Sikorsky S-58 as it flew over the rice paddies ???

[439th Signal Battalion]

The Last of the Mohicans....

 

I love the movie and soundtrack, but there are a few glaring errors that are so obvious, they are easily missed.

 

1) At the very beginning of the movie, watch closely when the elk begins to run. You can actually see the trainer letting him go in the left corner of the screen while wearing red!

 

2) When the Brits are marching out of the fort to get ambushed in the field, and right before Hawkeye (or whatever his name is) escapes the guard, you can see the director in the middle of the shot with a blue baseball cap on talking through a megaphone. I had seen the movie more than once before I saw that one and I coudln't believe I hadn't noticed it before.

 

3) Shooting two longrifles at once and hitting your target. Go figure.

 

4) Right when Uncas is killed and takes a spill off the rock, watch Hawkevey put his hand on a rock and yell his name. The entire rock begins to shake and move behind him.

 

On a side note, Wes Studi who played Magua and who has been in a host of other movies, served as a grunt with the 9th Infantry Division in Vietnam from 68-69. He is one of the few actors in Hollywood with such credentials.

[RustyCanteen]

Reading through this thread, one thing that you have to understand is that some films deliberately have errors. Either because the story requires a change or the director, writer, or production staff felt the need or had to make a change for any number of reasons.

 

I believe it has been stated that it was requested the ME-109's in PH be painted those colors because they felt it would be easier for the audience to identify the planes as German, regardless of what the planes should have been painted.

 

When I see production mistakes, then I'll consider it an "error".

[J_Andrews]

Re Post #192: In "Dr. Strangelove" as the B-52 was flying low-level across Siberia, following it on the ground was ITS (??) shadow -- a B-17.

[RustyCanteen]

There was a movie, with Pat Morita in it where he was driving an M37 (korean war era) vehicle. The movie took place in Japan during WW2.

 

Other than that it was an ok movie.

[45ACP]

One thing that drive my father crazy is when a character using the radio or telephone says "over and out".

1st My father spent 22years in the U. S. ARMY a very good part in commo.

2nd "over" means you came talk now.

3rd "out" means I'm done and is said by the person who started the call.

So what they are saying with "over and out" is you can talk now but I'm done and not listening. He just hates that. And now because of him I take note of it when it happens.

 

One movie that had good radio procedure was "Bat 21". In one scene Jerry Reed says his line then angrily says "out" and throws the mic. down.

[45ACP]

Theblackbox

 

Do you mean "Big Red One" "Patton" used only "Pattons"

[rufus_firefly]

Not a war movie but a Dragnet episode from about 1958. A gang of bank robbers break into a National Guard armory and steal a bazooka, 3.5 inch, with ammunition, then proceed to use it in a series of bank robberies. The bazooka is used to blow open the bank vault. As I recall the vault door was always blown open. In reality only a small hole should have been blown in the door. It probably would have remained locked. I don't remember how far the robbers were from their target when they opened fire, but it would be hard in most banks, I would think, to get back far enough not to caught in the blast of the exploding round. Not a problem here. The final, and best, goof is when the robbers are fleeing from a robbery in a station wagon when they hear a police siren. Sure enough, they are being chased. They decide to take out the police car with the bazooka. Two of the fleeing felons open the back window of their station wagon, load the bazooka, blast the pursuing cop, close the window and speed away. Anyone familiar with recoilless weapons is familiar with the back-blast they produce. As they say, don't try this at home! "The story you have seen is true..." I'm still trying to find a copy of this.

 

Don

[RustyCanteen]

Not a specific movie..but many WW2 movies from the '60s to the early '80s featured post WW2 civilian "CJ" jeeps instead of real WW2 MB's or GPW's.

 

Really ruins the moment when one of those pulls up.

 

This also happened in PH (2000), the scene on the golf course featured either a post WW2 CJ or a Korean War era M38.