When the rafts are bobbing on the waves during the big storm they are separated by great waves. The empty raft is nowhere to be seen and then reappears after the storm.
At the start of the 5000m race at the Olympics, the runners are rounding the first turn and there are two race officials standing on the side of the track and behind them are two athletes stretching in the infield grass. When the camera changes to a wide angle of the stadium, the two athletes disappear.
The Japanese flag as seen in the camp did not exist until after the end of the war. The correct one should have been the former Imperial Army flag.
The crew fly in their uniforms - flight suits were not required for bomber crews as they are unlikely to do high-G evasive maneuvers that fighter pilots do.
There were no parachutes aboard the B-24 in any of the scenes aboard the aircraft.
In the opening sequence none of the bomber crewmen wear parachute harnesses.
The tail gun position on the B-24D Liberators are incorrect. In the film, it is an integrated open-tail mount, with a single hand-held .50 caliber machine gun. In real life, this position would have been a modified glass turret with a twin-.50 gun mount.
The POWs for the most part look appropriately grungy, but all seem to have carefully trimmed and combed hair.
When the POWs are bathing in the river and a flight of B-29s passes overhead, the shadows cast on the waters are those of B-24s.
The US Army Air Corp DC-3 at the end of the film has Australian registration (VH-HID) all Australian aircraft registration's begin with VH.
The shadows of the aircraft on the ground are going much slower than the aircraft that are flying overhead.
During the first bombing run, a US bomber crewman is shot by Japanese Zero. The entry wound looks as if it were from a handgun. However, the Zero used a Type 99-1 Mk.3 cannon with 20 mm ammo. Each round is about 10 inches long, and would have torn the airman into pieces, not just wounded him.
At the end, when updates on the main characters appear on screen, the word "severe" is misspelled "servere".
At the end, when updates on the main characters appear on screen, the word "its" is misspelled "it's".
In the formation shot of the bombers there is one plane that looks more like a Flying Boxcar C-119, than a B-24 Liberator.
At the train station scene when Peter is seeing Louis off, a 50-star US flag is hanging from the depot building. The flag had only 48 stars from 1912 until 1959.
The national markings of the American transport plane shown near the end of the movie (1945) have a red dot in the middle of the star. That red dot was deleted from American planes in 1942 to avoid any possible confusion with the "hinomaru" red circle used by all Japanese planes.
There is a modern white dress with a modern "invisible" back zipper when Louis is taken to lunch in downtown Tokyo. She is sitting behind him with her back turned and you can see it a few times when the camera pans to Louis. Long center back zippers only became commonly used in the 1950s. Invisible zippers didn't come into use of clothing until much much later.
When Louis departs for the 1936 Olympics, he boards a train consisting of wooden passenger cars with open platforms. By 1936, virtually all passenger trains had steel cars with enclosed vestibules. The train used in the film would be more correct for the 1890s.
Louis Zamperini's nickname, "Torrance Tornado" wasn't given to him until after he had already been in the Olympics and started USC. The movie gives him this nickname while still in high school.
There never was scheduled passenger service by steam train to Torrance, CA, as depicted in the movie. There was service on Pacific Electric, but you'd have to show overhead electrified wires. He may have in real life started his journey on a long-distance train in Los Angeles.
In the first scene where the B-24 is shot up the co-pilot says we have no flaps, pretty soon we'll have no brakes. The runway is 6000 feet and we're going to need over 10,000 feet." At the approach and landing speed of that aircraft they wouldn't need anywhere near 10,000 feet to land. Also, the scene where they are landing, the runway looks to be about 3,000 feet at the most.
Watanabe used English to order his soldier to shoot Zamperini if he dropped the log. The order should have been in Japanese since throughout the film it seemed that only Watanabe and the radio representatives could speak English. It is also unlikely as he is talking to a fellow Japanese, who would undoubtedly understand him better with Japanese.
The transport aircraft with Australian civil registration VH-HID, that someone has identified as a DC-3, is actually a Lockheed 12A Electra.
The Bird's pierced right ear can be seen when the two radio broadcast men are in The Bird's office.