Goofs

During the emergency landing sequence, when the plane is shown landing and being stopped by the barrier, the nose gear collapses and the nose cone crumples. In the next shot, the plane is still in the barrier, but the nose gear is extended and the nose cone is not crumpled.

The number of the carrier changes during landing operations from 34 to 43 from time to time in the movie. It is visible during take-offs and landings.

During blind flying segment he can't open canopy to bail out. Then when coming into landing on the carrier opens perfectly.

Note added 29/09/18: At the first attempt to open the canopy, the jets are fast and at altitude. The "Venturi Effect", also known as "Bernoulli's Principle" means there will be a large difference in pressure between the inside and outside of the canopy. At the second attempt, the jets are slow and close to sea level.

The scene of a blinded Ensign Kenneth Schechter landing on the carrier switches from a F9F Panther to footage of a real crash landing of a North American FJ-1 Fury from VF-51 "Screaming Eagles" on the U.S.S. Boxer (CV-21).

In some of actual war scenes where rockets are supposedly being fired by the jets, they are actually being fired by Corsairs (propeller aircraft).

The ejection sequence is not an F9F but a T-33 during testing of the original ejection seat.

When the aircraft take off on combat missions, under wing stores are often missing.

Some the gun camera footage of attacks on trains is from World War II. The design of the locomotives and the farmers fields are clearly European.

Frank Lovejoy's bail out scene includes an inset of what appears to be a F-94, a later development of the F 80, being shown in a ejection seat test.

During Mission 2, the narrator says the pilot in trouble, Thayer, must orbit the carrier while the other planes all land, lest a crash make the deck unsuitable. In Mission 3, when Dodson is coming back damaged, he lands first.