Goofs

During the final mission, right have Emmett is hit and Bo tells Buzz he's group commander, there is an outside shot of "The Body" which shows the bomb bay doors open and severely damaged. A few seconds later, the plane is shot up by a German fighter and it clearly shows the bomb bay doors closed - they then get shot up (and a fire starts in the bomb bay)..

On the first mission shown, 'Bo' comments that they are carrying 8 1000 lb bombs. When the bombs are dropped, ten can be seen falling.

The shot of the express train going under the bridge shows V2 class engine No. 60873 Coldstreamer (a reverse image as the smoke-box door is shown hinged on the left), yet when the train pulls into the terminus, Steve McQueen is seen on the footplate of B1 class engine No. 61378.

The tenth mission they flew, an attack on Kiel (the first one seen in the film), was the crews' tenth. However, Rickson only has the names of nine targets written on his wall and Kiel appears as the eighth.

The scene where it is mentioned that "The Body" is to carry eight 1000-pound bombs on a mission to Kiel is erroneous: On any mission to a target lying further than about 200 miles, the practical bomb load of a Flying Fortress was limited to some 4000-5000 pounds of internal ordnance due to its relatively small bomb-bay, and this was rarely exceeded. The B-17 was, in fact, capable of carrying more weight, but only externally under the wings, which created significant additional drag, thus reducing both flight performance and range. Thus a bomb load of eight 500-pounders would have been far better in accordance with historical fact.

During the final mission, The Body is heavily damaged by German fighters, and two crewman are badly injured. Co-pilot Bolland then leaves his seat to render first aid, leaving pilot Rickson to fly the plane alone. In reality, Bolland would have stayed in the heavily-damaged cockpit to assist his pilot in handling the plane's multiple emergencies. Other crewmen would have helped the injured men.

The B1 class steam engine Number 61378 the airmen arrive in London on was not built until 1951.

There is a comment under the heading Crew/equipment Visible which implies that a ground crewman named Tony Stark was the primary artist involved with drawing nose art on the 8th Air Force's B-17's. In fact, there were many such part-time artists scattered among the 8th's hundreds of squadrons (although Mr. Stark was indeed one of the most famous).

In the first combat scene, the attacking "enemy" fighters are P-47 Thunderbolts and a Spitfire.

When "House of Usher" belly lands, Rickson stops "The Body" so Lt. Bolland (Robert Wagner) can deplane. "The Body" is shown from the left rear when it stops and there is no top turret installed. .

In the final high-altitude combat scene, one waist gunner is not wearing his oxygen mask.

Whilst Buzz and Daphne are speaking in the street she states that Madrigals are the 'pop music' of the thirteenth century. The term 'pop music' did not come into common usage until the mid nineteen fifties.

The scene after the Bo and Daphney leave King's College quad appears to include TV aerials on roofs in the distance.

When Buzz checks about Junior wounded, if he is still alive or not, he put his hand on the right side, the opposite where heart is.

The opening scene includes what appears to be a mini parked by the control tower and to the left of the building another post war saloon.

The briefing map the pilots get to see before the raid on Leipzig shows the Netherlands as having an area of reclaimed land that was not yet there during WW II. It's called Eastern Flevoland (or, in Dutch: Oostelijk Flevoland) and wasn't finished until 1957.

When Buzz decides to do a "beat up" of the field to show his displeasure at having had to drop leaflets instead of bombs, there is a Boeing C-97 parked on the ramp to the right of the tower - The C-97 made its first flight in 1944 and didn't enter USAF service until 1947.

All the ladies in the movie have 1960's hairdos and clothing instead of 1940's styles.

The officer's club has a 5-bladed propeller over the mantle. No US aircraft of WW II had such a prop, and the British designs were late in the war.

The short life vests the bomber crews wear are clearly post-war issue, not World War II-era "Mae Wests."

The film used three live B-17's in this production.. During the take off sequence before the Leipzig mission, the film shows several planes preparing to take off. As each plane taxis past the camera, the camera captures a unique nose art image.. It is also apparent that the base paint used to cover over the existing artwork does not match the olive drab color of the plane. It is easy to detect that each plane has it's nose art atop a swath of paint that did not match the body. The nose art that they depict in this film lacks the creativity and visual impact of the actual art created during the war by primary nose art artist, Tony Stark who was a member of the 8th Air Force's ground crew.

When the bomber takes off on the first mission the pilot calls out "gear up" telling the co-pilot to raise the landing gear. The co-pilot activates the landing gear retrieval switch without saying anything, a breach of safety protocol. Raising the landing gear is a checklist item and requires the co-pilot to immediately respond "Gear up" when executing the order. This checklist challenge-response procedure is followed religiously by all air crew, no matter how loose the crew might be otherwise.