In the movie, Rafe and Danny (Josh Hartnett) manage to run across the tarmac, jump into P-40 Warhawks, and shoot down seven Japanese planes. Only a handful of U.S. aircraft got airborne during the attack. Pilots like 2nd Lieutenants George Welch and Kenneth Taylor (who are briefly mentioned in the film as background characters) did take off from a remote airstrip and shot down several planes. However, they are eclipsed by the fictional white-bread heroes.

While the 2001 movie Pearl Harbor is inspired by real events, it is heavily fictionalized

Pearl Harbor (2001) film, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer , is a grand-scale romantic war drama

: Many critics point out technical and chronological errors, such as Army Air Force pilots