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Historical inaccuracies

Like many historical dramas, Pearl Harbor provoked debate about the artistic license taken by its producers and director. National Geographic Channel produced a documentary called Beyond the Movie: Pearl Harbor which covers some of the ways that "the film's final cut didn't reflect all the attacks' facts, or represent them all accurately."

Historical inaccuracies found in the film include the early childhood scenes depicting a Stearman biplane crop duster in 1923, as the aircraft was not accurate for the period and the the first commercial crop-dusting company did not begin operation until 1924. The inclusion of Ben Affleck's characte in the Eagle Squadron was another jarring aspect as serving U.S. airmen were prohibited from doing so, though some American civilians did join the RAF.

but are not limited to:

Early childhood sequences

• The was produced during the mid-1930s while the opening scene of the film is set in 1923; a Curtiss JN-4 Jenny would have been more appropriate, but no flyable aircraft of that type was sourced for filming. Although testing with crop-dusting had begun by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Army Air Service in 1921, the first commercial crop-dusting company did not begin operation until 1924 and it was two more years before it became widespread. The idea of a lone independent crop-duster in 1923 is historically unlikely.

Eagle Squadron sequences

• While the two main characters are training on Long Island, N.Y., nonexistent mountains are visible.
• Ben Affleck's character is portrayed as joining the Royal Air Force (RAF) as part of an Eagle squadron; serving U.S. airmen were prohibited from doing so, though some American civilians did join the RAF.
• Ben Affleck's character was based at RAF Oakley; it was a training base during the war, not a fighter base.
• The RAF Squadron Leader addresses Affleck's character by the UK rank Pilot Officer, however, Pilot Officer is equivalent to the US rank of Second Lieutenant, and Affleck's character held the rank of a US Army First Lieutenant. Therefore, he would have properly been addressed as a Flying Officer, which is the UK equivalent of a First Lieutenant.
• During the Battle of Britain flight sequences, the RAF Spitfires are shown flying in the standard American four-ship formation instead of the three-ship Vee or "VIC" formation at this stage of the war. Again, this depiction is open to dispute, because by the time of the late Battle, the RAF had adopted the German Luftwaffe Rotte and Schwarm system, known in RAF parlance as the "Finger Four", which the USAF itself adopted as "Four Ship" formation.
• Ben Affleck's character flies a Spitfire with "RF" side marks. Only No. 303 Polish Fighter Squadron had this squadron code and no American pilots served in this squadron.

Pearl Harbor sequences

• In the film the Japanese aircraft carrier from which the attack aircraft flew featured modern catapults and an angled metal deck. These innovations were not introduced until the mid-1950s; the actual Japanese carriers that launched the attack did not have catapults and the decks were wooden.
• At the airfield where the pilots are preparing themselves and trying to take action against the strafing Japanese aircraft, Ben Affleck's character erroneously says "P-40s can't outrun Zeroes, we'll just have to outfly them". This contradicts the standard tactics of P-40 squadrons to "outrun" Zeros because of the P-40's far faster dive rate. "Outflying" a Zero in a dogfight was considered next to suicidal because of the Zero's high maneuverability. The standard tactic for American and Allied pilots, from the AVG (Flying Tigers) in late 1940 through 1941 and throughout the Pacific War, was basic "hit-and-run". They would dive on Zeroes, get what "hits" they could, and then outrun them (although it could be referring to the P-40s starting from a standstill and having to climb, during which the Zeros would outrun or, rather, outclimb them). P-40s are shown doing tight maneuvers and incredibly dangerous stunts. The Zero was nimble and was the most feared fighter of the Pacific War until the F6F Hellcat debuted in 1943, and the P-40 was in no way able to "dogfight" with the Zero.
• In the film, the P-40N model of the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk U.S. fighter aircraft is shown. The "N" model of the P-40 was not available to the United States until 1943.
• Japanese A6M Zeroes at the attack were painted light green, not dark green.
• At the time of the attack, the battleships in Battleship Row were moored in pairs side by side, without gaps through which aircraft could fly.
• The USS Arizona Memorial, which straddles the sunken USS Arizona, can be briefly seen in a pan shot. The memorial was dedicated in the 1960s.
• The USS Whipple, a Knox-class frigate, can be seen clearly in a background shot of Doris Miller's boxing scene on the Arizona. Another Knox-class frigate, the USS Miller (FF-1091) was named for Miller. The Knox class was not in service until 1969.
• The models shown for Battleship Row during the Japanese presentation scene match Battleship Row's setup on the day of the attack but ships were constantly being moved around, in and out. There were also often aircraft carriers moored in Battleship Row. The USS Utah was mistaken for an aircraft carrier by Japanese aviators during the actual attack as much of the superstructure and guns had been removed and replaced with wood planking.
• The retired Iowa-class battleship USS Missouri was used to represent the West Virginia for Dorie Miller's boxing match, and was also seen in some other scenes. Iowa-class battleships have a 3x3 main gun configuration versus the 4x2 layout of the West Virginia. Also, the West Virginia did not have the World War II–era bridge and masts found on newer U.S. battleships until her reconstruction was finished in 1943. The Iowa class themselves did not enter service until 1943–44.
• The USS Texas doubles for the West Virginia during the sequences featuring Dorie Miller. The Texas was considerably different in design than the ship she portrays, most notably lacking the "cage" masts that distinguished the West Virginia and California-class battleships. During these sequences, the West Virginia appears moored by herself, but in reality the Tennessee was moored inboard (between the West Virginia and Ford Island) at the time of the attack.
• In the attack, two Val dive bombers attack two battleships with 2x2, 2x3 gun mounts and tripod masts, after which a sailor is shown jumping clear of a falling battleship tripod main mast. No battleship lost a tripod mast in such a manner. Not even in the sinking of the USS Oklahoma, which capsized, did a mast fall in such a way as shown in the film. Also, the only two battleships with tripod masts and such a gun configuration were the Nevada and Oklahoma, which were moored in different spots.
• In the film, Miller is shown firing a twin Browning M2 air-cooled .50-caliber machine gun. In reality, the .50 caliber machine guns found on the West Virginia were water-cooled, similar to the .303 Vickers.
• A Newport-class LST, recognizable by the twin derricks on its bow, is briefly visible in a panoramic shot. The Newport class was not built until the late 1960s.
• President Roosevelt did not receive the news of the Pearl Harbor attack by an aide or advisor running into the room. He was having lunch with Harry Hopkins, a trusted friend, and he received a phone call from Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. Hopkins refused to believe the report. The President believed it.
• Admiral Kimmel had received some warnings about an attack but, thinking them vague, did not put his forces on full-scale alert. This contradicts the film's portrayal of Kimmel as a leader railing against Washington's apathy about the Japanese threat.
• Even though he specifically asked, by dispatch and in person, for all information, Admiral Kimmel never received the secret Magic dispatches that showed vital information. He also never received the famous 14-part message the Japanese were delivering in response to the U.S. "ultimatum" of November 26, especially not the 14th part which indicated the 1:00 p.m. (EST) delivery of the message and ordering the destruction of the "coding" equipment, even though this had been decoded some nine hours before the attack.
• The reports given to Admiral Kimmel led him and his staff (as well as General Walter Short, the Commander of the Hawaiian Army units) to believe if Japan did attack, it would be somewhere in the southwest Pacific and not Pearl Harbor. In fact, Washington concurred when Kimmel deployed his carrier task forces away from Hawaii. Before Pearl Harbor was attacked, he had deployed them around Wake and Midway Islands to deliver fighters for protecting the ferry flights of B-17s to the Philippines (which had a higher priority, and complete access to Magic).
• The so-called "War Warning" dispatch Admiral Kimmel received on November 27, 1941, did not warn the Pacific Fleet of an attack in the Hawaiian area. It did not state expressly or by implication an attack in the Hawaiian area was imminent or probable. It did not repeal or modify the advice previously given by the Navy Department no move against Pearl Harbor was imminent or planned by Japan. The dispatch warned of war in the Far East. The number and equipment of Japanese troops and the organization of Naval task forces indicated an amphibious expedition against the Philippines, Thailand or Kra Peninsula, or possibly Borneo.
• Admiral Kimmel was not on a golf course on the morning of the attack (he was planning to meet Short for a regular game, but cancelled as news of the attack came in), nor was he notified of the Japanese embassy leaving Washington, D.C., prior to the attack. The first official notification of the attack was received by General Short several hours after the attack had ended. The report of attacking an enemy midget submarine, in real life, did not reach him until after the bombs began falling.
• Doris Miller's actions during the battle are altered. In the film, Miller comforts Captain Mervyn S. Bennion, who has been mortally wounded by a torpedo striking his ship, and is with him when he dies. Miller delivers the Captain's last orders to the ship's executive officer and then mans a machine gun. In reality, Miller picked him up after he was wounded (by fragments when one of the Tennessee's gun turrets exploded) and attempted to carry him to a first-aid station. The Captain refused to leave his post and remained on the bridge and continued to direct the battle until he died of his wounds just before the ship was abandoned. While Miller did man an antiaircraft gun, he was never credited with any kills (as opposed to the one shown in the film).
• In the attack, four decommissioned Spruance-class destroyers nested together are shown being bombed and on fire several times during the sequence. The first Spruance-class ship was not commissioned until 1975.
• When Dorie Miller is manning the twin .50-caliber gun, the ship moored next to his is a Knox-class frigate. The Knox class was not in service until 1969.
• During the "1940" film montage near the start of the film that "explains" the start of the War in Europe, film of the twin towers of Köln/Cologne Cathedral in Germany are used while the narrator speaks about the invasion of France. The subsequent clip shows a Pershing tank firing up a street where the towers of Köln are visible. The only time an American model tank would have been firing in the streets of Köln would have been in March 1945 when the city was captured, and not during the Invasion of France by Germany in 1940. The development of the Pershing itself began in 1942, with the first units arriving in Europe in 1945.

Doolittle Raid sequences

• The film suggests a submarine captain gave the idea for the raid. In reality, Captain Francis Low, Assistant Chief of Staff for Anti-submarine Warfare, came up with the initial concept, which he reported to Admiral Ernest J. King on January 10, 1942.
• In preparation for the attack, Doolittle (Baldwin) is shown training the pilots on land in a flat, sparsely wooded valley near mountains somewhere in the American Southwest. In the movie it was filmed at Marine Corps Air Station Tustin. The actual training was done at Lexington County Army Air Base in Columbia, South Carolina and at various auxiliary fields of the Eglin Army Air Field reservation, previously the Valparaiso Bombing and Gunnery Range, in northwest Florida.
• Several shots of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet depict her as having an angled flight deck, a technology that was not implemented until after the war. While the Hornet was portrayed by a World War II-era vessel (the USS Lexington), the Hornet was an earlier modified Yorktown-class carrier, whereas the Lexington was a modernized Essex-class carrier. The actual takeoff sequence was filmed aboard the USS Constellation, a Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier. The Constellation was much larger than the Hornet or Essex-class carriers, making it much safer for the B-25s to take off from. The Japanese carriers are portrayed more correctly by comparison — a few of them did have their bridge/conning tower superstructure on the port side rather than the more common starboard configuration.
• Affleck and Hartnett's characters are shown taking part in the Doolittle bombing raid over Tokyo in which, as fighter pilots, they would not have been allowed to participate. All of the bomber crews selected for the Doolittle mission came from a single unit based in South Carolina, the 17th Medium Bombardment Group.
• The B-25 Mitchells shown participating in the raid are "J" models, although the models used in the actual raid were "B" models. When Hartnett's character complains, "We're using broomsticks for tail guns!" the false tail guns were among modifications made for the mission, because the B-25B did not have a gun position in its tail. It also did not have the "package guns" a few aircraft in the film carried; these were not added until 1943.
• The Raiders are shown flying in formation from the carrier to the target, while during the actual mission each Raider aircraft flew by itself, with an hour elapsing between the first and last takeoffs.
• Several crewmen on Affleck and Hartnett's B-25s are killed in the firefight with the Japanese, including Hartnett's character. No members of the raid were killed in combat with the Japanese, but the crews of two of the crashed aircraft were captured by the Japanese.
• The flak over Tokyo in the movie was not as thick as it is depicted. For example, as stated on the Doolittle Raid article, only the B-25 of Lt. Richard O. Joyce received any battle damage with minor hits from antiaircraft fire. No crewmen were killed during the actual raid on Tokyo.
• Before launching, it is stated in the film that the task group had been spotted by a destroyer escort; in reality, they were spotted by fishing vessels.
• During the takeoff scene, when the shot changes to Danny's nose wheel, the catapults of the modern carrier are visible.

Other inaccuracies/inconsistencies

• The film shows Doolittle training with Rafe's squadron as a major. In reality, Doolittle was not recalled to active service until after the attack on December 7.
• Mitchel Field is incorrectly spelled "Mitchell Field".
• Despite Long Island's flat, level surface, mountains are visible in the flying shots over Long Island.
• Navy Nurse Betty claims to be 17 years old and that she has cheated with her age to be accepted, but Navy Nurses were required to be registered nurses to join the Navy Nurse Corps, which meant three years of prior training and passing a state board examination, unlikely qualifications for any 17-year-old. The minimum age to join the Navy Nurse Corps was 22.
• The ward dresses of the nurses have a different style than the ones Navy Nurses actually wore during World War II, and no nurse would have worked with long hair falling freely about her shoulders.
• The observation car seen in the train station was made for the California Zephyr, which did not appear until after World War II.
• The Queen Mary is seen in New York Harbor in full Cunard colors. The ship had already been painted grey and assumed duties as a troopship. By late 1940, the Queen Mary was on her way to Sydney to be fully fitted out as a troopship.
• The radar monitors shown in Pearl Harbor were of the more modern type which had a rotating dish. This type of radar was not in use at the time.
• The distinct outline of a Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier, the USS Constellation, can be made out in a wide-angle shot. The first ship of this class was not commissioned until 1961. In the same shot, the sail of a modern submarine can be easily made out.
• No U.S. Navy nurses would assess whether pilot candidates in the U.S. Army Air Corps were fit to fly.
• Dorie Miller is shown receiving his Navy Cross on the deck of a battleship. He actually received his medal in a ceremony aboard an aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, on May 27, 1942, shortly before the Battle of Midway.
• There are several shots of three destroyers tied abreast of each other taking hits at their pier. The three destroyers shown are each Spruance-class destroyers. The Spruance class did not enter service until the 1970s.
• Prior to the attack, Admiral Yamamoto turns a Japanese calendar to Sunday, December 7 to make note of the date of the operation. In reality, when the attack started at 6:37 am Hawaii time, it was 1:37 am on Monday, December 8 in Japan. The date December 7 was used because it is noted by Americans as the date of the attack. The Japanese version shows Yamamoto making note of the December 8 as the operation date.
• The dollar bill with the overprint of Hawaii did not come out until summer 1942.
• During the newsreel-style montage of fleet action with the voiceover "Japan continues its military conquest throughout the Pacific", footage of the sinking of HMAS Torrens, torpedoed as a target in 1999, can be seen.
• During the panning shot of the fleet just before the Doolittle raid, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer is visible in the back. These ships did not come into service until 1991.
• Yamamoto in real life was missing two fingers. In the movie he has all fingers.
• Roosevelt claims Stalin begged him to join in World War II; Stalin did no such thing. In fact, at the time depicted (very early 1941), Stalin himself was not yet in the war; however, in the 1943 Tehran Conference, he did press both Roosevelt and Churchill to open a second front.
• Roosevelt's famous Infamy Speech was severely truncated and otherwise altered.
• FDR is shown dramatically struggling to his feet during a Cabinet meeting. In reality, FDR wore his leg braces, which were very uncomfortable, only to public events.
• In one shot the camera pans over a columned building inscribed with the words "Navy Department". In reality, the building is the United States Capitol building, as its rotunda dome is clearly shown.
• When taking off on the Doolittle Raid, and in the training scenes beforehand, the B-25 bombers can be seen taking off with the wind on their tails. Carrier-borne aircraft always take off into the wind.
• In a shot of the American bombers flying over Japan during the Doolittle Raid, the Byodo-in Temple is depicted with Japanese women walking in front of it. This replica is in Hawaii, and the real temple is a much duller shade of brown. In Japan this short scene was inexplicably cut from both the theatrical and DVD release of the film.
• In the scene where Rafe is being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross by President Roosevelt, his only other ribbon was a Distinguished Flying Cross from the UK. His only award prior to that was the Silver Star.
• At 1:53:59, what can clearly be seen as a Zero is being fired upon by American anti-aircraft gunners. However, at 1:54:00, the plane, following that sequence in the film, has mysteriously transformed into a Kate torpedo plane, which promptly crashes into a water tower.
• The wooden boat shown in the scene going to the Queen Mary is actually a mid-1950s Chris Craft 19' Capri. The blond boards are indicative of postwar wooden boat construction, as well as the wraparound windshield.
• At the end of the film Rafe, already home after the raid, is seen receiving a medal from FDR. The raid members were freed in August 1945. However, FDR died in April that year.
• In one scene, Danny Walker says that Rafe jumped off the barn and broke his leg on a backhoe. The backhoe or backhoe loader was not introduced into the United States until the 1950s.
• Two distinctive and identifiable steam locomotives, a Southern Pacific class GS-4 and a Burlington Zephyr, are shown as being in Grand Central Terminal in New York, even though neither one of those trains ever ran east of Chicago.

References

Bibliography

• Arroyo, Ernest. Pearl Harbor. New York: MetroBooks, 2001. ISBN 1-58663-285-X.
• Barker, A.J. Pearl Harbor (Ballantine's Illustrated History of World War II, Battle Book, No. 10). New York: Ballantine Books, 1969. No ISBN.
• Cohen, Stan. East Wind Rain: A Pictorial History of the Pearl Harbor Attack. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, 1981. ISBN 0-933126-15-8.
• Golstein, Donald M., Katherine Dillon and J. Michael Wenger. The Way it Was: Pearl Harbor (The Original Photographs). Dulles, Virginia: Brassey's Inc., 1995. ISBN 1-57488-359-3.
• Kimmel, Husband E. Kimmel's Story. Washington, D.C.: Henry Regnery Co., 1955.
• Prange, Gordon W. At Dawn we Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, UK: Penguin Books, 1981. ISBN 0-14-006455-9.
• Sheehan, Ed. Days of '41: Pearl Harbor Remembered. Honolulu: Kapa Associates, 1977. ISBN 0-915870-01-0.
• Sunshine, Linda and Antonia Felix, eds. Pearl Harbor: The Movie and the Moment. New York: Hyperion, 2001. ISBN 0-7868-6780-9.
• Thorpe. Briagdier General Elliott R. East Wind Rain: The Intimate Account of an Intelligence Officer in the Pacific, 1939–49. Boston: Gambit Incorporated, 1969. No ISBN.
• Wilmott, H.P. Pearl Harbor. New York: Bison Books, 1981. ISBN 0-99365-543-8.
• Wilmott, H.P. with Tohmatsu Haruo and W. Spencer Johnson. Pearl Harbor. London: Cassell & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-304-35884-3.
• Winchester, Jim, ed. Aircraft of World War II (The Aviation Factfile). London: Grange Books, 2004. ISBN 1-84013-639-1.
• Wisiniewski, Richard A., ed/ Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona Memorial: A Pictorial History. Honolulu: Pacific Basin Enterprises, 1981, first edition 1977. No ISBN.

External links

• Official website
• Pearl Harbor at IMDb
• Pearl Harbor at Rotten Tomatoes
• Pearl Harbor at Box Office Mojo
• Pearl Harbor at AllMovie
• Pearl Harbor at Metacritic
• Cinemenium site
• Interview with Ben Affleck
• Interview with Michael Bay
• Hollywood Abominations

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