Goofs

Multiple Japanese Zero fighters bear the same tail-numbers AII-105, including the two Zeros that shoot down O'Flaherty and Gaido. AII meant the aircraft was from the carrier Kaga but no two aircraft would bear the same numbers.

At around 1:58 when Dick Best lands his plane on the deck his propeller is completely stopped but in subsequent shots it is spinning.

When Dick Best returns from his last mission of the battle, one of the last to land, the crew are seen performing a FOD (Foreign Object Damage) walk of the deck (normal practice on any flight line to ensure nothing can be picked up by a running engine or damage a tire).

When the hear Best's plane approaching they all run toward the rear of the flight deck. In the aerial shot of the landing only one person is seen running to the plane once it has stopped. No other personnel are visible on the deck (rightfully so in case the plane missed the arresting wires or a wire snapped).

After the bombing run on the Hiryu, one of Best's wingman approaches the Enterprise flying towards the general sun direction. As the plane nears landing and then crashes on the deck, the sun is suddenly behind the aircraft as it crashes and catches the arresting wire.

During the sequence of Dick Best's final landing on the carrier, the direction of the sunset changes about 4 times.

During the dive bombing of the Hiryu, Best is shown holding the dive until at mast level, and then releasing bomb while pulling out, putting it into the rising sun logo. In reality, Best released his bomb at 1000ft while aiming for the logo, In reality, no one would drop a dive bomb while in a glide or pull-out phase of flight. Good chance the bomb would simply bounce off, or explode taking the bomber with it.

John Ford was indeed wounded in the arm during the battle while filming for The Battle of Midway (1942). However he was in a much more precarious position, standing on top of the power plant on Sand Island, one of the most obvious targets for the Japanese Navy. He survived multiple attacks.

The Doolittle raiders had white panels sewn onto the backs of their flying jackets that included American and Chinese flags on the backs of their jackets, as well as Chinese text identifying them as Americans and allies. These are glaringly absent.

When Doolittle lands in China, after completing his raid on Tokyo, he and his men are rescued by what appears to be Chinese communist guerrilla soldiers. In fact, they were rescued by soldiers and villagers affiliated with Nationalist China. This was suppressed by the Chinese government until recently.

After the attack, while showing sailors cutting into the keel of a capsized battleship it is said to be the Arizona. It was the USS Oklahoma actually that capsized trapping men below deck and an attempt was made to rescue trapped sailors. 32 were rescued, but most perished from lack of oxygen.

When Admiral Halsey dismisses Bruno Gaido after his promotion, they are inside and Halsey salutes first. Salutes are usually not exchanged indoors, and the junior person should salute first. However, officers sometimes salute junior personnel as a sign of great respect. After Gaido shot down a Japanese bomber from a parked aircraft, Halsey might salute a hero whenever and wherever he wished.

Throughout the film, no depiction is made at any point of the Grumman F4F Wildcat, either in flight or on a carrier deck. The Wildcat was the standard Navy fighter of the early war and played a crucial role in every engagement shown in the film, including the battle of Midway. A viewer without knowledge of WW2 aircraft might assume the carriers only carried bombers and that they were always on their own. - However, the point of the film was to concentrate on the efforts of the dive bombers and torpedo bombers. Adding in Wildcats taking off, landing, flying, etc would have messed with pacing and a waste of screen time.

For most of the scenes involving Dauntless dive-bombers, the primary aircraft seen is distinctively Richard Best's "B1" aircraft. The "B1" subsequently appears variously being flown by Best, McClusky, cut in half by the falling Nell bomber during the Marshalls raids with Bruno Gaido in the backseat, and even being flown by US Marine Major Lofton Henderson during the Midway air group's initial attack on the Japanese.

The same two anti-aircraft gunners firing up in the sky defending the Akagi also appear defending the Hiryu only moments later in the battle, likely due to reused footage.

During the Pearl Harbor sequence, the characters go into a makeshift morgue. The dead are covered in pristine white sheets, with no trace of blood, oil, or other stains.

When Joseph Rochefort is introduced to Admiral Nimitz, Rochefort is wearing a house robe. If you look closely, you can see that the prop department forgot to remove the sales tag from the robe as it's still attached to the belt.

The 20mm Oerlikon AA guns on the Arizona are not real ones but stage versions as shown by their incredibly slow rate of the fire. The real Oerlikons have a rate of fire of 250-320 rounds a minute.

Rounds from the Japanese ships are incoming to the American dive-bombers much faster than the 25mm guns on the Japanese ships are capable of firing them.

One of the characters mentions the possibility of ending up in Leavenworth. While the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth, Kansas is now the military prison for all military services, at the time of the Battle of Midway, Naval personnel would be sent to Portsmouth Naval Prison in Kittery, Maine, so that Naval aviator would have said he might wind up in Portsmouth.

A character can be heard ordering "two mai tais" at a bar, in 1942. The mai tai cocktail was not invented until 1944, by Trader Vic, in Oakland, California.

The steel pot helmets worn by the gun crews on the ships were not issued until later in the war. Rather, the helmets were the same 'soup bowl' style that are seen on the soldiers on the island.

The markings on the US aircraft were correct for the time period of the Midway battle, but not for all the earlier stuff (Pearl Harbor, the Marshalls, Coral Sea, etc.). It has already been pointed out in this Goofs section that all the aircraft, through the Coral Sea battle, should have a red disk in the center of the white-star marking. In addition to that, the naval aircraft should be wearing horizontal red and white stripes, like the stripes on the American flag, on the rudder.

At the beginning, in response to the charge that he was "pulling a stunt," the pilot feigns ignorance by saying "I had electrical issues." The misuse of the word "issue" as a synonym for "problem would not become commonplace until the late 1970s.

During the raid on the Marshalls Islands, Best dogfights a Zero and passes through large mountain valleys. This terrain is not present in the Marshall Islands which has a highest elevation of 10 meters (33 feet). The valleys shown are more similar to valleys on Oahu which has a maximum elevation of 164 meters (538 feet).

When attacking Roi-Namur, one aircraft reports seeing an airfield on Taroa. This would not be possible as Taroa is 260 miles from Roi-Namur.

Enterprise did attack both airfields during their raid on the Marshall Islands in early 1942.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Admiral Nimitz is shown being dropped off in Washington DC to meet with Admiral King. The Capitol Building is in the background, which places the drop off location at Maryland Ave and 3rd Street. However, that site has been occupied by the Botanic Gardens since 1820. As construction of the Pentagon had not been completed, the Main Navy Building with Admiral King was about 2 miles away at Constitution Ave and 18th St NW. The movie makers probably chose to put the Capitol Building in the background as a quick way of informing the audience that they were in Washington DC.

On several occasions, Edwin Layton shares classified intelligence with his wife. Seeing how he is in charge of intelligence operations, he should know better. This security breach is probably intentional by the writers to succinctly inform the audience of what's happening.

During their attack on Roi Island, Lt. Best and Murray are shown each shooting down a Japanese fighter after completing their bomb run.

In his After-Action Report, while Lt. Best states his group were attacked by a low-level fighter patrol, in the dogfights that followed, Best credits two other crews as downing enemy fighters. He doesn't claim any aerial victories for himself or Murray.

Bruno Geico says his father was a welder on the Empire State Bulding. There were no welds in the initial construction.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, Admirals Yamamoto and Yamaguchi are privately criticizing Admiral Nagumo's failure to order a third strike. Yamamoto then speculates on what other mistake "the old fool" will make next. However, Yamamoto was born in 1884 and graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy in 1904. Nagumo was born in 1887 and graduated in 1908. An older man shouldn't be calling a younger man "an old fool".

Edwin Layton relays a message to Admiral Nimitz that Admiral Nagumo has transferred his flag from the Akagi. Nimitz seems confused by this information and says "Why would Nagumo transfer his flag?" The answer should have obvious to him that the Akagi was sunk.

Nimitz was clearly joking with Layton. He obviously knows what this means.