Goofs

The aircraft Dieter took off in is not the plane he crashed in. As noted before, the tail section is not that of a Douglas design, but a mix of North American (AT-6) and something from Curtiss (the rounded elevators), and the rudder is fabric, as evidenced by the deformation wrinkles.

Dengler's Squadron was VA-145, the squadron painted on the side of his crashed Skyraider plainly says VA-25.

After Dengler's plane crashes, it spins and end backwards with the main section of the plane severed from the tail. He is then shown flying towards the tail. None of this makes sense whatsoever. The plane would very unlikely spin, and he would not likely be thrown toward the tail when the front has already separated from the tail..

The type of aircraft changed in the crash scene: Dieter Dengler's aircraft was an AD-1 Skyraider. The tail section of the crashed aircraft in the rice paddy is most likely that of a North American AT-6 which has rounded vertical and horizontal tail profiles. The Skyraider has squared off tail profiles.

After his escape from the plane, Dengler's plane is shown in a different position than when it crashed, including a wing protruding vertically from the water.

Twice in the film Dengler is referred to as Flight Lieutenant Dengler. There is no such rank in the U.S. Navy, nor in the U.S. military. That's an RAF rank. Dengler was a Lieutenant Junior Grade, commonly called at LT JG (Lieutenant Jay Gee).

The missiles on Dengler's plane are shown to drop as bombs.

Although a UH-60 Blackhawk is depicted on the poster, these aircraft were not built until after the Vietnam War.

The Narrator states that the aircraft is making an approach to the carrier Ranger, a Forestal class carrier. The carrier shown is a modified Essex class carrier commonly referred to as a 27C.

The man in the white shirt who captures Dengler speaks Thai (Issan dialect) instead of Laosian

During his captivity, Dieter is shown wearing his gold wedding band - it is generally regard as something no American pilot would do. However, on the DVD Walter Herzog explains a deleted scene where Dieter's ring is almost stolen. When the guards are transporting Dengler to prison they stop at a village. A man there threatens to kill Dieter unless he gives him his ring-a gift from his fiancée. When they leave the village Dieter tells the guards his ring was stolen and they return to the village. The guards cut off the villager's ring finger and return Dieter's ring to him. This is a factual event that haunted Dengler the rest of his life.

When Dengler is rescued, he only lowers one prong on the jungle penetrator rescue seat instead of the two prongs as taught in survival training. This is explained in Dengler's book because he was "woozy and distant".

During Dieter's shoot-down scene, when the camera cuts to the flight instruments inside his plane, the altimeter is shown winding down rapidly from 57,000 feet yet he's just above the ground. Also note, the 10,000-foot indicator fails to move at all AND the rate of climb indicator shows a slight climb.

Water snake bites are generally harmless. When Dieter captures the water snake, even if he knows that the bite would be harmless, he holds the snake's near the head with his right hand, too far away from the head to protect him from being bitten.

In the supply scene, before setting out for the mission, the U.S. passport Dieter shows is not only the wrong color (blue rather than green), but is also the smaller size in use today rather than the larger size in use at the time.

A Pelican case is visible during the first briefing. Pelican cases were not introduced until 1976.

When flying the Skyraider, Dieter Dengler (Christian Bale) is wearing a SPH-4 Helicopter pilot helmet that is missing it's visor assembly. In addition to missing a major portion of the helmet, this helmet was not in use during the time period of the film (it wasn't seen until the 1970s), and was not used by the pilots of fixed wing aircraft.

At the beginning (set in 1966), the pilots are making fun of a survival film. However, the survival film was made in 1967 according to the documentary "Little Dieter Needs to Fly".

In the supply scene, the supply sailors are wearing modern blue utility shirts that were not in use until the 1990s.

At 1:19:35 , when Dieter steals the rifles from the hut and approaches the other prisoners before their attack on the kitchen, a crew member (wearing a cap) can be seen moving from the right of the screen to the left with a camera or some other equipment.

When Dieter is dragged behind the water buffalo shortly after his capture, you can see the tracks of the car dragging Christian Bale in the sand.

During the night time jungle scenes, calls of the Fowler's Toad (Bufo fowleri) are clearly heard. These toads are only found in North America.

Shortly after being shot down, Dengler is seen randomly flashing his signal mirror in order to attract attention. The proper way to use such a mirror is to sight the rescue aircraft through the transparent circle in the center of the mirror, which then automatically aims the reflected light right at the aircraft.