Goofs

During the fatal test flight, the sky ranges from clear blue as far as the eye can see to heavy dark clouds. Then patchy cloud all in the few minutes that the flight lasts.

When beginning combat with the MIGs, McConnell directs his flight of F-86s to jettison drop tanks, which they do. Later, however, the planes are seen fighting the MIGs either the tanks are still attached or having rather large mounting pylons underneath the wings. Still later in the same aerial combat sequence the F-86s are shown with clean wings, no tanks or pylons.

After 3 days of hitchhiking from Pullman, Washington towards Massachusetts, Mac looks at a road sign that says he's about 2800 miles west of Boston. However, Pullman is about 2800 miles west of Boston. Mac should have been able to at least get out of town in 3 days.

Although McConnell's B-17 formation is bombing German targets from high altitudes, none of the crewmen are wearing oxygen masks or heavy flying clothing.

During the part of the movie in which McConnell is flying combat missions as a navigator in Europe, his plane is a B-17 Flying Fortress. The real Lt McConnell flew in B-24 Liberators. However, this mistake is understandable, since very few B-24s were still flyable at the time the movie was made, while many B-17s were still operational as rescue, training, and transport aircraft.

In the cockpit of McConnell's B-17, the pilot and copilot are very confined, with their shoulders almost touching. In a real B-17, there is much more room between the two positions. Obviously, either a different type of aircraft or a cockpit mock-up was used in these scenes.

While McConnell is attending medical school in Texas, neither he nor any other servicemen are wearing rank, organizational patches, or collar insignia on their tan summer uniforms.

Original post: "Sykes incorrectly refers to 'Brooks General Hospital' in San Antonio. The hospital is actually named Brooke General." Actually, there were two similarly-named military hospitals in the San Antonio area which were frequently confused: The School of Aviation Medicine at Brooks Field (later Brooks Air Force Base) and Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston. As this is a film biography of an Army Air Force/ USAF aviator, the character was more likely referring to the hospital at Brooks Field/AFB.

At the ceremony marking the completion of McConnell's pilot training, his commander pins navigator wings on his uniform instead of pilot wings.

When the Migs are shot down, the sound is of a piston engine aircraft screaming to the ground at top revs. rather than a jet engine.

When McConnell shoots down two MiGs (actually USAF F-84's) while flying cover for the rescue helicopters, the MiGs emit white smoke that is supposed to indicate that they have been hit by McConnell's machine guns. But the smoke can be seen to be coming from under-wing cannisters specifically designed by movie makers to simulate the results of battle damage.

When McConnell (Ladd) is taxiing for his first solo take off, close ups show his canopy open. Wide angle shots show the canopy closed.

During the helicopter rescue scene of the never shown downed B-29, in the bottom right of the frame you can see several sailors in winter uniforms standing there with dogs on leashes, the appear to be there to keep people out of the landing zone filming area.

During World War II, a character disembarks from a C-47 transport that is clearly marked USAF. The United States Air Force was not created until 1947, two years after the war ended.

In the 1941-1948 sequences, June Allyson and all the rest of the women are wearing very typical 1955 clothing and hair styles which are very unlike the styles of the period in which the story is taking place.

The B-17s during the WW2 bombing raid have 1942 camouflage and USAAF stars, yet the combat scene depicts them being attacked by Me163 rocket fighters, which were not used operationally until late 1944, and then in much smaller penny-packet formations, rather than the squadron strength suggested in the movie. Additionally, the Me 163s are clearly models, going far slower than in reality, and have prototype markings without authentic camouflage. But, so much for 1950s special effects.

There is a 1945 AAF poster on a wall during a scene set in 1942.

The Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star that McConnell flies during his training uses tip tanks that are mounted in line with the wings. F-80s before and during the Korean War sported tip tanks that hung below the level of the wings.

In the opening scenes when Pvt. McConnell is taking flying lessons, the hangar identifies the location as 'Fitchburg Airfield', and a vehicle on the ground holds a 'MASS' license plate, clearly placing the scene in Massachusetts. However, in aerial scenes thereafter, the aircraft is flying over large tracts of orange groves, and later, when McConnell is evading the military police in a hotrod he hitched a ride in, they pass down a long road lined with Eucalyptus trees. There aren't very many orange groves or Eucalyptus trees in Massachusetts, although there are in Southern California where the movie was filmed.

The Hondo Army Airfield to which McConnell is assigned is located in southwest Texas, a dusty place out in the country. The "Hondo Airfield" used in the movie is actually Glendale Airport, right in the middle of Los Angeles.

McConnell's B-17 is attacked by what the crew and the mission debriefing officers refer to as "jets." However, the aircraft are clearly Me-163 "Komets", which were rocket-powered. It's possible that the crews confused the Me-163 with the Me-262, an actual German jet fighter that was present around the same time.