Patzer

In the long-shot plane crash sequence as Milo and Cathcart walk along the runway the smoke trail from the plane that flew by extends far beyond the "crashed" plane.

In the opening with Yossarian, Cathcart and Korn making their deal in the burned out tower, Yossarian turns around to them at a different point in his dialogue than in the reprise of this scene at the end of the film.

When 1st Lt. Milo Minderbinder explains to Cathcart his plans to trade blankets to the Italians for fresh eggs, he shows Cathcart an egg. As the two walk along the landing strip, the egg disappears from Milo's hand.

The camera view of the conversation between Nately and the old man in the whorehouse changes as Yossarian enters the room: the old man's suspenders vanish.

When the Chaplain is stopped by Milo on his way to talk with Colonel Cathcart, his jacket is covered in light-colored dirt spots. They are gone when he arrives at the top of the stairs and starts talking to Orr.

General Dreedle wears a cap with gold braid on the bill, commonly called scrambled eggs. US Army officers did not wear these caps until well after World War II.

None of the characters except General Dreedle wear any ribbons on their uniforms. As a minimum, each man should be wearing ribbons for the American Campaign Medal and the European-African-Middle East Campaign Medal. Some (if not most) of the flying officers also should have the Air Medal ribbon. A few of them should also be wearing the Purple Heart for being wounded. Finally, one or two officers should have the Distinguished Flying Cross or the Distinguished Service Cross for outstanding performance in combat.

When Major Major begins talking to Sgt. Towser in his office about when others can see him, a portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt can be seen hanging on the wall behind his desk. Major Major then walks away from, then back to his desk twice more, and each time the portrait is seen, it has changed - from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Winston Churchill to Joseph Stalin.

This was an inside joke, done intentionally by the filmmakers to further emphasize the dream-like state of the film.

In the dream sequence where the nurse sheds her uniform and tosses it into the water, Yossarian swims up and grabs the uniform with his right hand, then sinks. As he's sinking the uniform is now in his left hand. These continuity "errors" show his unstable mental state.

The men are often shown wearing hats indoors and not wearing them outdoors. In the military, hats are normally worn outdoors and never indoors.

There are many vintage film clips and photos of World War II Army Air Force officers and men wearing hats and caps at indoor mission briefings.

During the mission to Ferrera, when Yossarian toggles his bombs early and causes the entire group to bomb the ocean, the top gun turret of Yossarian's B-25 is missing when the plane is seen in head-on process shots against a rear-screen projection of other planes in flight.

When 1st Lt. Milo Minderbinder and Col. Cathcart walk along the landing strip, they pass a crashed B-25. It may seem wrong that the airplane has no turret and no hole where the turret would have been; but this is because it's supposed to be the (other) bomber which moments before had trailed smoke as it flew past the two officers and landed badly on one wheel, then crashed in an explosion which is heard but not seen. However, the filmed illusion does not work properly since the stunt plane kept on making the smoke trail which extends far beyond the "crashed" plane.

In the opening, when the B-25s are taking off, some of the planes appear to not have a full crew (i.e., no tail or nose gunner), and one of the bombers has no nose guns.

When the B-25 crash lands at the base, no fire trucks respond to put out the subsequent fire and rescue potential survivors. Two ambulances do respond to the scene.

The soldiers' dog tags are from the late Vietnam War era. Dog tags during WWII, Korea, and part of the Vietnam War were notched so the soldier's information could be stamped properly using a device that resembled a pistol.

The lovely version of "September Song" Yossarian and Luciana dance to wasn't recorded (by Django Reinhardt, Hubert Rostaing, and the Quintette of Le Hot Club de France) until 1947.

In Major Danby's initial scene in the control tower, the Baby Ruth bar in his pocket is in a modern (1970) wrapper. The actual 1940s wrappers had a different design.

Pianosa and Ferrara are depicted with inaccurate geography (see trivia).