Midway (2019) actually gets a lot of really obscure stuff right, including several incidents that audiences and critics wrote off as dramatic license. However:
- The film depicts the Japanese correctly deducing they had sunk an American carrier (Yorktown) in retaliation for the destruction of Akagi, Kaga, and Soryu. In truth, and significantly, they thought they had sunk two: Hiryu launched two attacks, and while Yorktown sustained heavy damage from the first one, its crew was able to repair the damage so effectively that, when a second attack came, the Japanese assumed it was a different ship altogether. After destroying it, Nagumo assumed the Americans had only one carrier left and decided to let his pilots take a break, unaware that they actually had two; thus, the final attack on Hiryu caught the Japanese by surprise. It's also worth noting that while the second attack put the Yorktown out of action, she was not actually sunk until three days later thanks to a Japanese submarine attack as she was being towed back to Pearl Harbor (the film mentions Yorktown getting hit during the battle but doesn't depict the sinking). Had the sub not penetrated the protective cordon, Yorktown likely would have made it back to port to be repaired.
- Four US Army B-26 Marauders from Midway attacked the Japanese carriers on the morning of the 4th, but they did not bomb from high altitude. The Marauders were armed with torpedoes and came in at wavetop height under heavy fire from fighters and antiaircraft guns. No hits were scored with the torpedoes, but one B-26, Susie-Q flown by 1LT Jim Muri, skimmed Akagi's flight deck while bombardier 2LT Russ Johnson fired his nose-mounted .30-cal machine gun, knocking out an antiaircraft mount and critically wounding two men. Another B-26 nearly crashed into Akagi, but was confirmed by American and Japanese witnesses to be spinning out of control. The suicide attack was made by a USMC dive bomber piloted by Capt. Richard Fleming, who took an antiaircraft hit and reported that he was badly wounded and his gunner was dead, then dove his SB2U Vindicator into the cruiser Mikuma. A flight of B-17 Flying Fortresses out of Midway airbase did make a high-altitude level bombing run against the Kido Butai, but scored no hits.
- When discussing the odds against them before the battle, Best notes the Japanese have the world's largest battleship. Actually they had two of them: the Yamato and Musashi. Also, in real life the Americans were unaware of the type's status as such until after the war: the two ships were designed and built in extreme secrecy since battleships heavier than 35,000 tons were banned under the Washington Naval Treaty, to which Japan was a signatory. (The slightly smaller German Bismarck and Tirpitz were equally illegal, but by the time they were built the Nazi regime were openly ignoring the previous regime's arms control treaties.)
- Very few of the B5N torpedo/level bombers used by the Japanese were armed, carrying only a flexible gun for defense. However they are shown joining the Zero fighters strafing the American fleet at Pearl Harbor.
- Two important aircraft from the battle are missing entirely:
- The Japanese D3A dive bombers, which were used extensively at Pearl Harbor and Midway, including causing severe damage to Yorktown in the first wave of Hiryu's counterattack.
- More egregious is lack of the American F4F Wildcat fighters. As much as the devastating blow to the Japanese fleet, Midway was important as a turning point for the Navy's fighter pilots, as it was the first opportunity for Thach to use what would become the Thach Weave in a major combat with the Japanese.
- Doolittle's raiders are shown flying B-25Js. This later model was distinguished by the top turret having been moved forward directly behind the cockpit. The historical Raiders flew the earlier B-25B, which had the dorsal turret located much further aft.
- Dick Best's Dauntless is accurately painted with the number B1 and two diagonal white stripes on the vertical stabilizer, as shown in this
◊ color plate. The other Enterprise SBDs and TBDs show a similar marking scheme (such as Scouting Six's Dauntlesses using an S# fuselage number). However this was only the aircraft's markings at the time of Midway, but is used throughout the film. As shown here◊, from 1941 through May, 1942, US Navy aircraft featured red and white stripes on the rudder, and red disks in the middle of the roundel. The red was removed to reduce the chance of American gunners mistaking the red disk for the Japanese Hinomaru, (aka, the "Meatball") and prevent friendly fire incidents. Additionally, Enterprise's air wing adopted comically oversized national insignia for the first few months of the war as a result of the loss of several aircraft and their crews to friendly fire when they arrived at Pearl Harbor in the aftermath of the attack. None of the aircraft in the film are shown with these early markings. - Ernest King wasn't actually Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) at the time he appears in the film. He was actually Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH), sharing authority with CNO Harold R. Stark with both reporting to President Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox. This was condensed in the film to avoid confusion regarding the chain of command and have one person represent Nimitz's direct superior, though such confusion would have been Truth in Television: King and Stark had near-identical areas of authority, rendering command and control of the Navy inefficient, uncalled for during wartime. Roosevelt solved this by relieving Stark in early 1942 and installing King in his place, making him both CNO and COMINCH. After King's retirement in 1945, COMINCH's powers were folded into the office of CNO, cementing that position as the most powerful in the United States Navy.
- Nimitz did not actually get his assignment as commander of the Pacific Fleet from King. In real life, it was Navy Secretary Knox who informed him.
- During the Pearl Harbor attack, the Stars and Stripes flying from the sterns of the battleships on Battleship Row are sporting the modern day 50-star design, not the 48-star design used at the time: Hawaii and Alaska did not become states until 1959.
- While Hiryu was scuttled after the battle by torpedos from a destroyer, the movie shows her being hit two different torpedos. In reality, only one of the two torpedos actually hit, with the other one actually missing. They are also shown hitting Hiryu in the hull, when the one that hit actually striking near the bow (this meant took surprisingly long for her to sink).
- Bruno Gaido's death wasn't nearly as badass as the film depicts: the Japanese subjected him to unspeakable torture until he cracked and told them everything he knew, and he was so utterly broken that he begged for his life as they prepared to toss him overboard. Also, he wasn't tied to an anchor, as an anchor was an important piece of equipment, and ships carried only one or two spares. He was tied to kerosene cans filled with water.
- Dick Best's attack on the Hiryu is completely inaccurate. Aside from the crazy amount of anti-aircraft fire (the Japanese struggled throughout the war to provide enough AA for their ships, and what they did have was not very reliable or well coordinated) he was flying as the lead of a three-plane element. The Hiryu was turning sharply at the time of the attack, so Best and his wingmen ended up approaching from the side, not from the stern. All three released at the same time, but only Best scored a confirmed hit, the other two falling short (although they may have detonated in the water and caused shock damage). Best is also shown releasing his bomb far too late. A proper attack profile is to put the plane into the final dive, make minor adjustments, release, and then pull up. Best is shown releasing the bomb while flying almost horizontally, so it would have skipped off the flight deck and fallen harmlessly into the ocean. This one is pretty clearly Rule of Cool, as the film's Best times his release specifically to hit the Japanese rising sun insignia on Hiryu's flight deck.
