Visible crew/equipment: On the first torpedo attack on the Japanese carriers, US pilot George Gay is shot down. He exits the plane and swims towards a square floating object. Either he takes size 28 shoes or the actor was wearing fairly short black swim fins. They show twice very briefly above the water. Hard to see, but nobody has feet that long.
Midway (1976)
1 visible crew/equipment mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Jack Smight
Starring: Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, James Coburn, Cliff Robertson, Glenn Ford, Robert Wagner, Hal Holbrook
Factual error: In the final scene, where Fonda and Holbrook are looking over the carrier at the crowds on the dock, you can see that only the first rows of people are dressed in period clothes. The rest of the crowd are dressed as they would have been in 1976 when the film was made. Also, between them in the background is a yellow Ford Pinto.
RAdm. Frank J. 'Jack' Fletcher: I'd give my retirement pay to know what Nagumo is up to now.
Captain Garth: Same thing we are, Admiral - Sweating it out.
Trivia: The film-makers only had three vintage US aircraft for the production, namely two F4F Wildcat fighters and a PBY Catalina search plane. All of the other aircraft that appear are from either wartime footage or from previous war movies.
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Answer: It's shown in the original 4 hour movie. Most of the scenes from the Coral Sea Battle are cut from this version and the battle is referenced, but never really shown.