Factual error: Part 4: The cord on the telephone Pug uses to call Pam should be a straight wire. Instead, it's coiled: a design not yet in use in the 1940s. (00:13:30)
Factual error: Part 6: It's 1941, and Pug and Stimson are in a small boat crossing between ships in the fleet. The USS Missouri, with its BB-63 hull number plainly visible, passes behind them. The Missouri wasn't commissioned until 1944. (01:58:15)
Factual error: In the final scene of the mini-series, Captain Henry stands on a cliff next to his car, looking down at Pearl Harbor. But Pearl Harbor is surrounded by entirely flat terrain. There are no cliffs.
Factual error: Part 1: During the Siena Italian festival in what is supposed to be 1939, you can see in several shots that the crowd is wearing 1980s clothing (including tank tops, shorts and modern athletic shoes).
Factual error: Several times throughout the miniseries, parts of London are shown with the flags of various allied nations flying from buildings. These include the Canadian maple leaf - which wasn't adopted until 1965.
Factual error: One of the medals on Pug Henry's uniform throughout the series is a Bronze Star. Winds of War is set in 1939-1941. The Bronze Star medal wasn't created until 1944.
Factual error: The USS Arizona Memorial can be seen during the first bombing scene of Pearl Harbor in the dark smoke.
Factual error: The batman at the RAF station introduces himself as "Aircraftsman Horton" (which also appears on the credits). While a common mistake made by those outside the RAF, the rank is actually Aircraftman, without an "s".
Factual error: When Pug first arrives in London, a car can be seen driving on the right.
Factual error: Part 6: As Roosevelt is getting onto the train, the superimposed title identifies his location as "Silver Springs, Maryland." But he's in Silver Spring (no S), not Silver Springs.
Factual error: Alfred Jodl is listed in the credits as a Field Marshal. He actually held the rank of Colonel-General.
Factual error: Churchill tells his aide to fetch "Air Vice-Marshal Dowding". Dowding was actually an Air Chief Marshal, two ranks higher, and wears the correct rank insignia for that rank when he is seen later. As a keen military man, this is not an error Churchill is likely to have made.
Factual error: In the Battle of Midway scenes there is stock footage of aircraft carriers, showing angled flight decks, a British innovation developed in the 1950s.
The Changing of the Guard - S1-E6
Factual error: As Pug and Byron are readying themselves for dinner at the White House, they are discussing the Bismarck. Pug refers to the ship as a "pocket battleship", which it most definitely was not. As a navy captain, Pug should have known the difference between a pocket battleship like the Scheer or Graf Spee, and the real thing.
The Changing of the Guard - S1-E6
Factual error: The Royal Navy lieutenant aboard the American warship is wearing a moustache. Royal Navy personnel must be either clean-shaven or wear a "full set" (beard and moustache). They are not (and never were) permitted to wear a moustache alone.
