Goofs

When the Airmen see the German destroyer, it is steaming through the water; when they strafe the destroyer, it is obviously at anchor.

During the final dog fight the underwing droptanks keep appearing and disappearing.

When the 99th gets Ramitelli, Hannibal has 2 swastikas and Train has 1 kill. They each get a kill when they discover a straggling bomber. It is reported that HQ confirmed the kills. The next time they are in the air and find a destroyer, each plane still has the same number of swastikas. They should each have added one more to their planes since HQ confirmed the kills earlier.

At the beginning of the movie, the Iowa license plate was from Crawford County, which is in western Iowa. Later, Hannibal Lee states he was from Ottumwa, Iowa. Ottumwa is in Wapello County, which is in southeast Iowa.

When Cappy lands his plane on the dirt road the tires make the sound of landing on a sealed runway.

When Cadet Hannibal Lee is release by Major Joy for his first solo flight, he is given the typical order for all first solo flights: "Three circuits around the [traffic] pattern with full stop landings." The scene then cuts to Cadet Lee far above the traffic pattern altitude (obvious to any pilot) which is a violation of the order he has been given.

As The B-17 Bombers and Fighters Were Making Their Way To Biretta Pass They Began To Encounter Anti-Aircraft Flack. Moments Later They Were Attacked By German Fighters. The Germans Would Never Attack While Anti-Aircraft Flack Is Being Fired. Doing So Would Risk Damage To Their Own Planes Or Being Shot Down.

The 99th flew obsolete P-39 Airacobras during their deployment to Africa, not P-51 Mustangs.

The Gun Camera film of them strafing the German Destroyer while at anchor is actually a Japanese Destroyer from Rabaul in the Pacific.

Towards the end of the movie the TA's are assigned the task of escorting a flight of B17's. To accomplish this they are shown flying in formation with the bombers. Such a position would afford the bombers little protection and could expose the TA's to flack. The correct position would have been somewhat higher than the bombers and off to one side. Most certainly they would have remained outside the gun range of the bombers whose gunners would "in the fog of war" occasionally fire on their escorts. Additionally there would be another group of escorting fighters flying "high/top cover" for the lower group of fighters to insure they were not jumped by Germans "coming out of the sun" or otherwise ambushing the escort.

While the unit is in Europe, in the background are several Mustangs. These are obviously plywood cutouts.

When the unescorted bombers are taking fire from the German planes, as the camera pans across the gunners in the midsection of the plane, it's obvious that the belts for the machine guns are loaded with blanks. In one shot, from the outside of the plane, looking in, the flat red tips, designating blanks, can be seen in the mouths of the rounds.

Just as Cadet Peoples' aircraft climbs to a stall, a Contrail from a modern day jet aircraft is visible in the sky in the background.

The Mustangs shown throughout are P-51D's, with the cut down 'bubble' canopy. This variant wasn't introduced until late 1943, well after their training and initial missions

After the initial engagement in Italy, the bomber pilot is asking another officer the identity of the fighter planes with the distinctive tail markings. This conversation is happening at night. The next scene shows some of the fighter pilots walking away from their planes celebrating the mission. It's daytime. Both conversations would have happened immediately after the planes landed.

In the riding-the-train scene at the start of the movie, dated 1941-1942, one pilot is seen reading Stick & Rudder. According to the copyright notice in the book, Stick & Rudder was not published until 1944. Also, the dust jacket as shown in the film was not used until a much later edition of the book, late 1960's-early 70's.

After the initial engagement in Italy, the bomber pilot is asking another officer the identity of the fighter planes with the distinctive tail markings. This conversation is happening at night. The next scene shows some of the fighter pilots walking away from their planes celebrating the mission. It's daytime.

When the lead characters first meet on the train, the conductor has just announced Chicago as the stop. Yet immediately preceding we see the train has a Tallahassee & Albany engine pulling into a small town. Once they get underway, we see a Chicago and Northwestern engine pulling the train which would be geographically correct.