Other mistake: The exact same background shot of a Ventura bomber followed by two single-engine planes flying left to right is used three times during the film, twice at the beginning as they are planning the mission on the beach and then once at the end when the raid is over.
Factual error: The group of Japanese soldiers who came to Cabanatuan following the guards desertion were not "secret police" with orders to execute the POWs as shown in the film. They were simply units who happened to temporarily halt at the camp during their retreat from the advancing Americans.
Factual error: The plane used in the flyover to distract the Japanese from the approaching Rangers was not the B-34 Ventura shown in the film, but rather the P-61 Black Widow night fighter. The latter was specifically chosen because it was an unknown, rather strange looking plane that would attract maximum attention and be psychologically unsettling to the Japanese.
Other mistake: Early on, the Americans discuss the fact that the Japanese move at night and hide during the day. Yet, when Mucci's men, still on foot, are moving towards the camp, they encounter an enemy armored column, moving in daylight.
