Continuity mistake: At the start of the attack, the Japanese fly past a baseball court with some kids playing baseball. In one shot we see perhaps two or three kids in the batting cage. If you look to the far left you can see a woman. In the following shot she is now suddenly where the batter was. (01:23:10)
Factual error: When the MPs drive on to the golf course to alert the commander of the attack, the Jeep they're driving is a Korean War era M-38. (01:24:00)
Other mistake: When the first torpedo hits the American ship (killing the two guys hanging on the side) Danny and Rafe jump up from the car. Their cue to do so is somebody (possibly the Director) shouting 'Boom.', which is still audible on the finished film soundtrack. (01:24:25)
Continuity mistake: During the attack on Pearl Harbor just after the big explosion we see a captain on the bridge of his ship looking at the attack. The Japanese fire upon the bridge killing many. The captain ducks and goes to the corner, and we see him grab hold of the corner and then release his right hand to his side, but in the following shot his hand is still on the corner. (01:26:35)
Continuity mistake: When the Japanese are attacking Pearl Harbor and we see Danny and Rafe driving toward an airfield, there is a photographer in the backseat who says his line. In this shot he is not holding onto his hat, but in the following shot he is.. (01:27:00)
Factual error: Dorie Miller was not carrying an elegant tray of coffee service when the attack began. He was carrying laundry. (01:30:00)
Continuity mistake: In the middle of the film just after the Japanese start attacking Pearl Harbor, Cuba Gooding Jr sees the captain injured. If you watch closely, the captain is pointing at Cuba but doesn't touch his arm, yet in some shots you can see that his hand is touching his arm. (01:30:05)
Continuity mistake: Just after the Japanese attack and the shot cuts to the airfield where they all are gearing up to fight them in the air, there is a shot of two guys on a roof of a building that are shooting the Japanese planes. They get shot and fall down, but in the following shot you can see they have come back to life. (01:31:35)
Continuity mistake: When the cook uses the mounted gun it has two ammo cases and then during the scene it changes between one and two cases and the right hand one is even open at one stage. (01:36:40 - 01:37:15)
Continuity mistake: As the Japanese attack begins, fighter aircraft strafe pedestrians (and everything else) near the harbour. The reporter with the hand-held movie camera is killed twice. Watch as he is blown into the air and then miraculously restored to health, only to be blown away yet again, this time with the camera in front of his face. (01:44:30)
Continuity mistake: During the attack on the smaller airfield where Rafe and Danny are, the photographer who dove in the back of the car gets shot, falls and drops the camera. When it lands it's filming his face, and there is something on the ground right in front of his face, but in the following shot nothing is there. (01:45:05)
Factual error: Japanese Naval officers say "We have hit battleship row. Now we must hit the smaller airfields." In actuality, the attack was planned to every detail so that all of their targets were hit simultaneously. (01:46:30)
Continuity mistake: When Rafe and Danny take off during the attack their canopies are open. In the next shot from behind you can see that the canopies have closed themselves. (01:47:45)
Revealing mistake: When Betty's body is being placed amongst those killed outside the hospital, the dead guy lying on the left side breathes at the wrong time (you can see his neck and head move slightly). (02:01:55)
Continuity mistake: In the scene after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Danny and Rafe get a message to go to see Colonel Doolittle, and the camera cuts to a taxi. The driver is standing inside the door of the taxi, but in the following shot of Rafe from inside the building, the driver is now standing with his arms crossed at the front of the car. (02:08:35)
Visible crew/equipment: After Evelyn tells Rafe that she is pregnant, she walks away and leaves him standing by the gas pumps. The camera zooms out and a boom mic comes into view in the upper right hand corner. (02:17:25)
Continuity mistake: As the Doolittle Raiders are taking off from the aircraft carrier there are several sweeping views of the carrier task force as the planes fly off. The decks of the carriers are obviously modern US carriers with the landing portion of the flight deck angled out about 10° from the catapult direction of the flight deck. (02:28:30)
Factual error: There is no way that anyone in Hawaii could have listened to the radio chatter among Doolittle's raiders. First, because the planes were flying separately on different routes, not as a group, and were observing radio silence, so there was nothing to hear. But mainly, because the radios used for inter-plane communication are low-power short-range units. Long-range communication was carried out by each plane's radio operator, using Morse code. Long-range voice communication by radio was not possible back then. (02:31:10)
Factual error: In the scene where Admiral Kimmel is inspecting the crew of the battleship an aide comes up with a message to send some ships to the Atlantic. Admiral Kimmel starts complaining about the orders. No Admiral would ever do this especially in front of enlisted men. In fact he was placed in charge of the Pacific fleet when his predecessor complained about moving the fleet from San Diego to Pearl Harbor.
Factual error: For some reason, Danny believes Rafe's story that he's been officially assigned to an RAF Eagle Squadron for "combat training." While almost 7,000 Americans did volunteer to fly for England before Pearl Harbor, these were either as civilians or Americans who joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. It was against the law for any citizen to fight for a belligerent power while America was neutral, so Rafe's superiors couldn't have ordered him to fight for Britain, and Danny would have known that.
Chosen answer: Probably in Washington. He rejoined active duty in 1940, was assigned to consult with industry re aircraft manufacture; also a trip to England on special mission to evaluate other countries' air power. He requested a return to flying status but was refused. He then was asked to assess feasablity of a air attack on Japan from carrier based planes, and when he asked to lead the mission his request was accepted.