Goofs

When Lincoln Bond (William Holden) approaches Connie Mitchell (Virginia Leith) they are in front of the headquarters building and an airman is seen exiting the front door. In the following shot, the airman is nowhere to be seen.

Early in the film when Bond observes General Banner crash his aircraft, it's referred to as an "F-102." In reality, the hulk that Banner is pulled from is a Convair XF-92, the experimental predecessor to the F-102 Delta Dagger.

When Lt Col Joe Craven (James Garner) ejects from the XF-120, a rather large airplane, there is a very brief shot of an ejecting pilot leaving a much smaller airplane, perhaps a Lockheed T-33 or F-80, based on the shape of the tail.

In long-distance shots, the parachute streaming out of the rear of General Banner's (Lloyd Nolan) F-94 is shown barely open in the rush of the air stream. Yet, in the closeups of the parachute, it is just fluttering as if in a relatively mild breeze.

Throughout the film, General Banner's combat ribbons on his uniform keep changing in number. Early in the film he has three rows of combat ribbons. Later, he has five rows, and then three rows again.

Although it was done for comic relief, General Banner's (Lloyd Nolan) aide 2nd Lt Sweeney (L.Q. Jones) is too nervous/excitable to be an aide. Also, "Second Looies" are not usually general's aides; they would have at most a year-and-a-half in the service and not know much about the Air Force. Generals usually pick young officers who know the ropes to be their aides.

The Air Force has a long history of drumming safety into its rank and file. At the very start of the film Linc commits a egregious safety error that NO green Airman would have committed, let alone a seasoned pilot. Linc sees a flaming jet crash land and burst into flames. He hurried drives over to it, parks, then runs over to help the trapped pilot get out. All well and good. BUT Linc was wearing a open trench coat (neither zippered, buttoned, or even belted), which of course hung loosely down about his knees. Running into a fire dressed like so was suicidal to say the least, and highly uncharacteristic of an experienced Air Force pilot and officer. He could have easily shucked his trench coat as he ran in a step or two, and more importantly, he would have done so without even a thought.