History AnachronismStew / RaidersoftheLostArk

* German soldiers carry MP 40 submachine guns. The MP 40 (also called the Erma/Volmer machine pistol) was designed in 1938 and adopted by Germany in 1940. While it could be claimed they are meant to represent the MP 36, the MP 36 is ''very'' different and was never issued in anywhere near the same numbers as the MP 40.

* Marion lights a cigarette with a butane lighter. Butane lighters were developed int he 1950s.

* Indiana flies out of San Francisco to Asia is a Short Solent 3, which first flew in 1946. The exact one used was an ex-BOAC owned by Howard Hughes. It is meant to stand in for the Martin M-130 ''China Clipper'', which started service in 1934, and crashed in 1945. It also makes stopovers at Honolulu (Hawaii), Wake Island, Manila (Philippines) and finally arriving at Nepal (possibly Kathmandu). All of these non-stop flight stretches (which range from 2300-3000 miles) are way too long for the Short Solent's maximum range of approximately 1800 miles (the M-130's range was 3,200 miles, for reference).

* Indiana flies out of San Francisco to Asia is a Short Solent 3, which first flew in 1946. The exact one used was an ex-BOAC owned by Howard Hughes. It is meant to stand in for the Martin M-130 China Clipper, which started service in 1934, and crashed in 1945. It also makes stopovers at Honolulu (Hawaii), Wake Island, Manila (Philippines) and finally arriving at Nepal (possibly Kathmandu). All of these non-stop flight stretches (which range from 2300-3000 miles) are way too long for the Short Solent's maximum range of approximately 1800 miles.

* An ex-British Army WorldWarTwo-era Morris 10 HP is parked beside the building the truck carrying the Ark is hidden in.

* The fuel truck that starts leaking at the airfield is a 1938 Morris Morris Commercial CD Zwicky Flight Refueler, which entered service with the RAF in 1937. The troop transport that Marion shoots up is a 1937 Morris Commerical CV.

* Near the end, Indy threatenes to destroy the Ark with a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon. [[WordOfGod According to the film's armourer]], it is a Type 56, a Chinese copy of the RPG-2, made to look like a WWII German anti-tank rocket launcher, but with a shoulder grip like an M9 Bazooka. Germany, and no nation for that matter, had an anti-tank rocket launcher in 1936, nor were they even devloping such weapons -- the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck came much later during the war.

* The government agent that contacts Indy drives to his house in a 1937 Lasalle (Cadillac's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Companion_Make_Program Companion]]), although the model year for a brand new car starts halfway through the previous year (i.e. 2014 starts June-2013)).

* The Golden Gate Bridge appears when Indy departs from San Francisco. The Bridge was not completed until 1937; although construction began in 1933 and was not open to traffic until 1937, it was nearing construction, so it's feasible it could appear almost completed from a distance in 1936.

* German soldiers carry MP 40 submachine guns. The MP 40 (also called the Erma/Volmer machine pistol) was designed in 1938 and adopted by Germany in 1940. While it could be claimed they are meant to represent the MP 36, the MP 36 is ''very'' different.

* Indiana flies out of San Francisco to Asia is a Short Solent 3, which first flew in 1946. The exact one used was an ex-BOAC owned by Howard Hughes. It is meant to stand in for the Martin M-130 China Clipper, which started service in 1934, and crashed in 1945. It also makes stopovers at Honolulu (Hawaii), Wake Island, Manila (Philippines) and finally arriving at Nepal (possibly Kathmandu). All of these non-stop flight stretches (which range from 2300-3000 miles) are way too long for the Short Solent's maximum range of approximately 1800 miles.

* The truck Indy, Sallah and Sallah's children climb into is a 1949 Citrëon Type 23.

* The GoldenGate Bridge appears when Indy departs from San Francisco. The Bridge was not completed until 1937; although construction began in 1933 and was not open to traffic until 1937, it was nearing construction, so it's feasible it could appear almost completed from a distance in 1936.

* When Indy and Marion travel from Nepal to Egypt, the map of their route is superimposed over a Douglas DC-3. The DC-3 first flew on December 17, 1935, and the first ones were delivered in 1936. Most of the 300-400 DC-3s in service were flying for American, Eastern, United, and TWA airlines in 1936, and it would have been highly unlikely to find one flying between Nepal to Egypt then.

* Indiana flies out of San Francisco to Asia is a Short Solent 3, which first flew in 1946. The exact one used was an ex-BOAC owned by Howard Hughes. It is meant to stand in for the Martin M-130 China Clipper, which started service in 1934, and crashed in 1945.

* German troops are clearly the Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK), which was not formed until 1941, as they use its symbol (a swastika on the trunk of a palm tree) and wear tropical uniforms intended for DAK use and introduced in 1940. In 1936, they would have worn either the standard woold uniforms or, given the hot weather, model 33 cotton work uniforms.
* Captain Kananga wears a hat with the insignia of the Yugoslav People's Navy, which was formed in 1945.

* The globe in Indy's classroom has countries that did not exist in 1936.

* The conning tower of the U-boat that intercepts the ship carrying the Ark reads "26". The U-26 was a Type IA U-boat commissioned in 1936. The hull is incorrect for that type and that sub; it is actually the full size shell of the Type VIIC U-96 used in ''Film/DasBoot''. The Type VIIC went into service in 1940.

* The map showing Indy's plane's trip to Nepal has Thaland written on it. Thaliand was called Siam until 1939. The map to Egypt has Jordan, which was called Transjordan until 1949.

* Indiana flies out of San Francisco to Asia is a Short Solent 3, which first flew in 1946. The exact one used was an ex-BOAC owned by Howard Hughes. It is meant to stand in for the Martin M-130 China Clipper, which started service in 1934.

* Indy has a Browning Hi-Power as his backup pistol. John Browning was designing it when he died in 1925, and FN started manufacturing it in 1935, so it is not impossible he might have one that early, though unlikely. After he loses it in the fire in Marion's bar, he has one made by John Inglis Co. of Canada, which had a distinctive rear sight "hump". Inglis started manufacturing the Hi-Power in 1944. Interestingly, Indy was envisioned carrying a 1911, but because 9mm blanks were the most reliable, he uses a 9mm Hi-Power.

* The truck carrying the Ark is a GMC CCKW, modified to look like a Mercedes [=LG3000=] diesel. It's too tall and too narrow to be a Mercedes, as well as the actual Mercedes being a 6x4 and not having a powered front axle, unlike the CCKW.
* The motorcycle-sidecar combo Indy runs into a pond is a Dnepr MT-11, a postwar continuation of the IMZ M72, a Soviet copy of the BMW R71 (rejected by the Werhmacht in favour of the R75 in 1939, then sold to the Soviets). Unlike the sidevalve R71 and M72, it used overhead valves, as did the R75.

* Indiana flies out of San Francisco to Asia is a Short Solent 3, which first flew in 1946. The exact one used was an ex-BOAC owned by Howard Hughes. It is meant to stand in for a Martin M-130 China Clipper, which started service in 1934.

* The truck carrying the Ark is a GMC CCKW, modified to look like a Mercedes LG3000 diesel. It's too tall and too narrow to be a Mercedes, as well as the actual Mercedes being a 6x4 and not having a powered front axle, unlike the CCKW.
* The motorcycle-sidecar combo Indy runs into a pond is a Dnepr MT-11, a postwar continuation of the IMZ M72, a Soviet copy of the BMW R71 (rejected by the Werhmacht in favour of the R75, and sold to the Soviets). Unlike the sidevalve R71 and M72, it used overhead valves.
* The government agent that contacts Indy drives to his house in a 1937 Lasalle (Cadillac's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_Companion_Make_Program Companion]]), although the model year for a brand new car starts halfway through the previous year (i.e. 2014 starts June-2013)).

* The fuel truck that starts leaking at the airfield is a 1938 Morris Morris Commercial CD Zwicky Flight Refueler, which entered service with the RAF in 1937.

* The truck carrying the Ark is a GMC CCKW, modified to look like a Mercedes LG3000 diesel. It's too tall and too narrow to be a Mercedes, as well as the actual Mercedes being a 6x4 and not having a powered front axle, unlike the CCKW.

* Near the end, Indy threatenes to destroy the Ark with a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon. [[WordOfGod According to the film's armourer]], it is a Type 56, a Chinese copy of the RPG-2, made to look like a WWII German anti-tank rocket launcher, but with a shoulder grip like an M9 Bazooka. Germany, and no nation for that matter, had an anti-tank rocket launcher in 1936, nor were they even devloping such weapons -- the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck came much later during the war.

* Near the end, Indy threatenes to destroy the Ark with a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon. [[WordOfGod According to the film's armourer]], it is a Type 56, a Chinese copy of the RPG-2, made to look like a WWII German anti-tank rocket launcher. Germany, and no nation for that matter, had an anti-tank rocket launcher in 1936, nor were they even devloping such weapons -- the Panzerfaust and Panzerschreck came much later during the war.

* Indy has a Browning Hi-Power as his backup pistol. John Browning was designing it when he died in 1925, and FN started manufacturing it in 1935, so it is not impossible he might have one that early, though unlikely. After he loses it in the fire in Marion's bar, he has one made by John Inglis Co. of Canada, which had a distinctive rear sight "hump". Inglis started manufacturing the Hi-Power in 1944.

* Soldiers who don't carry the MP 40 carry Kar [=98s=], which, while introduced in 1935, would be unlikely to be out of the country as early as 1936.