- Continuity: As the Santini family pulls up to their new home, Lillian is seen putting her arm in the window. In the next shot her arm is no longer in the window.
- Continuity: As Santini's family is waiting at the hanger for him to arrive, Lillian's hair changes. With the wind blowing, sometimes her hair is messed up, sometimes it is combed nicely.
- Continuity: When Santini and his wife Lillian are in bed together, her right hand in some shots, is up by his head/neck area and in other shots it isn't.
- Continuity: When the Santini family is in their station wagon, in the process of moving, Santini wakes his son up. The pillow that Lillian was using is missing in the shot of the awakened boy and Santini.
- Continuity: When Santini and his oldest son are at, what appears to be the officers club, there is a full shot showing Santini standing to make a toast. On the table there is a bottle. In the next full shot, the bottle has moved about four inches to the viewer's left.
- Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): At the beginning of the movie, Meacham wears the eagle insignia of the full colonel. Later, he is introduced as Lt. Col. It is only after this that he begins to wear the silver oak leaf of the Lt. Col.
- Miscellaneous: In the opening dogfight sequence you hear the lead pilot call "Okay, it's Marines verses Navy"; and you see a F-4J Phantom with the word Navy on the side. However, the squadron designation is VMFA-251. At the time, only Marine Phantoms carried the "VMFA" designation, Navy Phantoms were "VF" . The "Marine" squadron was in fact VMFA-251 Thunderbolts, who now fly the F/A-18C.
- Anachronisms: The film takes place in 1962, but the aircraft are F-4J Phantom II's, an aircraft that was manufactured in 1966. The aircraft have ECM antennas on the intake shoulders, which were added in 1975. Finally, the planes are gull-gray on the bellies and noses. This was a paint scheme mandated in 1978.
- Factual errors: When Bull Meechum is in bed with his wife, his arm bears a tattoo of VMFA-323. This unit was designated VMF(AW)-323 in 1962.
- Factual errors: The squadron that Bull Meechum assumes command of, VMFA-312, was known as "Checkerboards", not "Werewolves". In the opening scene, he dogfights with two navy F-4s while flying a VMFA-312 jet. Supposedly, he left that squadron in Spain! Also, the tail letters for VMFA-312 are "DR", not "DF".
- Crew or equipment visible: Bull Meechum meets his old buddy, Virgil Hedgepath, and they wrestle each other in Hedgepath's office. In the background, you can see a couch. As Hedgepath gets Meechum in an arm lock, on the floor, you can see that the floor has been raised: in the background, the couch is noticably higher, and you can see the side of the platform that the actors are on, directly below Robert Duvall's face.
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Goofs below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.
- Continuity: SPOILER: When Bull Meechum is talking to the tower just before his airplane crashes, his mask is alternately clipped/unclipped between shots.
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