Flyboys (film) - Historical Accuracy

Historical Accuracy

This film has been widely criticized for its lack of historical accuracy. The most serious lapse was the blending of the Lafayette Escadrille with the Lafayette Flying Corps, a sub-unit where the real-life Eugene Bullard actually served.

Various details of World War I fighter aircraft technology shown in the film were inaccurate. For example, the aircraft engines in the CGI scenes are pictured as not moving. The rotary engines used in early aircraft rotated along with the propeller at the same speed. This mistake is mainly due to the fact that the Nieuport and Fokker aircraft used in the movie are flying replicas built with new radial engines. This detail can be briefly seen in the final combat when the black Fokker is taking off after Rowling's ground attack at the German airfield.

Another error is that the American pilots are operating the Nieuport 17, while the Germans are operating the Fokker Dr.I, which entered front line service some time after the Nieuport 17 was no longer operational.

The singular use of Fokker Triplanes, which were not in widespread operational use is contentious and almost every Triplane was also painted red in the film, indicating that the Triplane was in Jasta 11, the "all-red" unit. Its leader, Manfred von Richthofen, the "Red Baron", flew four "blood-red" Triplanes (although undersurfaces remained blue).The Red Baron was killed by ground forces on April 21, 1918 flying low above the Somme valley. On the director/producer commentary track for the DVD release, Producer Dean Devlin noted that they were aware that this predominant use of red triplanes was historically inaccurate, but wanted to give clear visual signals to the audience to enable them to easily distinguish friend from foe in the aerial sequences.

The film's only military adviser for the entire project was Jack Livesey, a convicted defrauder, who fabricated his resume and military service to gain the employment as an administrative assistant at the Imperial War Museum, London. Livesey was charged and convicted with fraudulently claiming nearly £30,000 in benefits. Livesey had served 3 years in the British Army Catering Corps. His claims of service in Northern Ireland, the Falklands conflict and his claim that he was a curator of The Imperial War Museum were not true.

In the film, the RMS Aquitania is depicted as a luxury liner; however, in early 1914, she was converted to use as an armed merchant cruiser, and by 1915 had been put into use as a troop transport ship, painted with dazzle style camouflage; however, the film might have used it to demonstrate the style of transport ships during the war.