Corrected entry: When the attack force is spotted on radar, the officer who decides it is a flight of B-17s is addressed as "Lieutenant". However, he is wearing an Army uniform, thus the two silver bars on his epaulets would denote the rank of Captain (O-3). (01:20:25)
Ronnie Bischof
17th Aug 2005
Pearl Harbor (2001)
26th Aug 2003
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Corrected entry: Crashing into the English Channel at full speed, like Rafe did when he was shot down by the Messerschmitt, and then surviving the crash, is physically impossible. In the movie the airplane "dives" into the water, while in real life, it would just disintegrate against the surface of the water and the pilot would, most probably, be catapulted out of his seatbelts and then through his canopy into the water (And needless to add: he would definitely not survive).
Correction: You cannot say that, we have no indication about speed of the aircraft, exact angle of impact or any other detail that is necessary to tell how the airframe would respond to the water. And whether he would survive or not you can't tell either, two examples to show you what a body can bare: three fighter pilots who were shot down in WWII survived a free fall from over 5000m as they landed in a wood and there was a yugoslavian stewardess who fell out of an aircraft after a bombing at flightlevel 300 (10 km) and she survived the fall!
4th Jan 2003
Pearl Harbor (2001)
Corrected entry: While training for the Tokyo raid, Dolittle is the first to get his B-25 to take off in the allotted distance. In the shot that shows his plane lifting off as he crosses the line on the runway, the flag in the background shows he is taking off with the wind. Airplanes always take off INTO the wind whenever possible, especially when trying to keep the takeoff roll short.
Correction: It's correct that you try to start into the wind whenever possible, however we can't say that they didn't try to take off with the wind anyway, plus there could be wind changes. I personally had that when I once landed at an airfield, strong winds from the left however suddenly a wind from the right caught me offhand and nearly turned my plane over. No mistake in that scene.
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Correction: Which is nothing more than a character mistake. A recruit who hasn't been in the army for a long time, usually having a lieutenant as a superior, not having paid attention or the Captain just got promoted and the guy isn't used to it yet.
Ronnie Bischof