Unidentified Flags or Ensigns - Page 1 (2023)

flags submitted in 2023 - Page 1

Last modified: 2024-09-21 by zachary harden
Keywords: ufe | unidentified flags | 2023 |
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Below is a series of images of flags that have been provided to FOTW; some we have recognized, and some we have been unable to recognize. If you can help us identify any of these flags, please let us know! Contact the: UFE Editor.

Identification Key:

= Positive ID (Positive Identification)
= Tentative ID (Tentative Identification)
= Some Speculation

23-1. Red flag with fleurs-de-lis

Image located by John King, 11 January 2023

John King sent this flag to Ted Kaye of NAVA for identification. It was forwarded to us as well to help ID this flag.
Editor, 11 January 2023

User golaswede suggested this flag could possibly be that Jurbarkas (Taurage, Lithuania).

23-2. Possible Yacht club flag Some Speculation

Image located by Fabrizio D'Eramo, 14 February 2023

Image located by Fabrizio D'Eramo, 14 February 2023

Good morning, Do you kindly have information (nationality, era, military or civilian,...) of the attached flag? Thank you Fabrizio D'Eramo, 14 February 2023

Due to the two balls in canton, I suppose, it is a rank flag of a vice commodore of a commonwealth or US yacht club, but I have no idea, which one.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 14 February 2023

As mentioned by Klaus-Michael, the images attached are indeed Yacht-related. Its manufacturer, "Captain O M Watts Ltd London" was established by Oswald Martin Watts, himself a master mariner and nautical author who worked as a ship chandler and yacht broker. Maybe you can try and contact them directly Here's a similar flag manufactured by the same company, which, one can infer, has the same dimensions as the one you provided: 25 x 15.5 inches (cotton made).
Esteban Rivera, 14 February 2023

Rather, it's the British system: Full field for the Commodore, one ball for the Vice-Commodore, and two balls for the Rear Commodore. People who are not in the know, will often miscount.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 17 February 2023

Bloody right Peter Hans, thanks. Do you also know the club?
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 17 February 2023

Though this second flag posted by Esteban is indeed a London Yacht Club, it's not Captain Watts' own City Livery Yacht Club as one might expect, but it's instead the Royal London Yacht Club. And indeed, once again a Rear Commodore's. The colour of the original one is a bit odd: Light blue, as if for air ships. But no, not pictured for burgees of most of the world in the early 1960-s. Also, not around that same time for US and Canada. (For Canada, that is ...) I don't have complete listing there, though. This makes you wonder whether it might be azure instead, since the original question is from Italy. Regardless of whether we manage to identify it, would the poster tell us a bit more. Was this found in the proverbial Grandfather's left chest? Or do you know more of where it came from? But for now: I don't know. I agree with Esteban, Ask the flagmaker, they may well know the time from the style of the label.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 17 February 2023

23-3 US-Unknown friendship pin Positive ID

Image located by Joe Pugliese, 23 February 2023

Image located by Joe Pugliese, 23 February 2023

Joe Pugliese sent this flag to Ted Kaye of NAVA for identification. It was forwarded to us as well to help ID this flag.

I saw this pin flag again at the website/seller "Mercari". After uploading the picture of the logo (and eventually the flag) to Google lense, it brought me to this Reddit post . One user identified the logo in the center of the flag as that of State Water Heaters, a company that sells water heaters located in the United States.
Zachary Harden, 15 September 2024.

23-4. White Greek flag Positive ID

Image located by William Garrison, 1 March 2023

Identified as the flag of the Hellenic Fire Service

23-5. Blue flag with red key?

Image from Ted Kaye, 12 January 2022

An UFE that was sent to NAVA and us; the following information was sent to us by Ted Kaye regarding the background of the flag: "The flag was found in my dad’s garage in Tucson, but it likely goes back to Minnesota. My dad grew up in Morris, MN. His dad was also from MN, and his grandfather emigrated from Luxembourg as a child in the mid to late 1800s. His mom emigrated from Moravia (then Austro-Hungary, currently Eastern Czech Republic) as a child in 1905. After my parents were married, they raised their family in Wisconsin and only moved to the southwest after the kids were out of the house and they were retired. They spent a number of years in Carlsbad, NM, before moving to Tucson, AZ. I believe the flag belonged to my dad’s parents, but it may have just been his. What is odd is that I’ve never seen this flag before and neither had my mom. It was packed in a box with a 48 star flag, which I had seen many times throughout my childhood.

23-6. Palestinian unidentified white-field flag

Image from William Garrison, 8 March 2023

Source: about 1:34-1:35 min. at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCoVJrQCsE0 Caption: Unidentified white-field Palestinian flag. Flag image taken from a UK television program detailing the ties between "Northern Ireland" separatists (pro-Ireland reunification; anti-UK) and Palestinians seeking independence from Israel; c. 2019-2020. The Palestinian flag appears to be alongside the fly edge of this flag. I cannot identify the black-ink logo.
William Garrison, 8 March 2023

23-7. Green white flag with red cross Some Speculation

Image from Michael B. Stogsdill, 19 March 2023

An acquaintance recently mentioned to me he had a flag he acquired from an estate that had a large WWI era collection. The only photo I have of the flag is the one attached to this message that was a photo of a picture on his phone (the white smudge in the center of the photo is glare from the phones screen). He mentioned the flag is roughly 5' x 8' and made of wool. It is a horizontal flag with 3 equal height horizontal stripes with the outer most stripes being olive drab in color, and the center stripe is white. It has a red cross centered vertically and horizontally slightly overlapping the OD green stripes. I have searched crwflags.com for flags relating to Templar, Maltese cross, iron cross, various German naval jacks, Portuguese, and Spanish flags, with no luck. Due to the nature of the collection, I'm assuming it was from the German Empire era, but while that is only speculation, it is obviously an old flag and not of new construction. Any help identifying this flag would be appreciated.
Michael B. Stogsdill, 19 March 2023

This cross looks like the cross used by the Swedish Order of Freemasons. The Swedish freemasons have somewhat different rules and symbols compared to freemasons in other countries. [You can see] the arms of the Swedish Order of Freemasons at the Wikimedia Commons). The red cross as a stand-alone symbol is a registered trademark for the Order. However, I do not know what the flag Michael B. Stogsdill has stands for or if there is any connection to the Swedish Freemasons.
Elias Granqvist, 20 March 2023

23-8. Mystery from Corfu

Image from Stratis Andreadis, 22 March 2023

Image from Stratis Andreadis, 22 March 2023

Forwarded from Ted Kaye to us.

23-9. UK - Historical (ca. 1944)

Image from YouTube submitted by Esteban Rivera, 10 April 2023

Image from YouTube submitted by Esteban Rivera, 10 April 2023

Watching the following video titled "Waiting For D-Day, 1944. AI Enhanced, London street scenes, Colour, Sound, HD" I encountered a flag (1:19 onwards) during what seems to be a rally (popular gathering) around a speaker. It features the initials N, S, A in white capitals, on each corner of the flag, which is a St. George-type flag. I tried to link this to perhaps British Fascism or British Neo Nazism but after looking at this list of British fascist parties and movements, I could not match any of them with the flag in question. Additionally, in the video it is mentioned that this was shot before D-Day (June 6, 1944), so perhaps it was in May, during what is commemorated as Labor Day (May 1), so perhaps this flag is related to a trade union. Also, since the color combination seems to be a black (or maybe a dark blue) background with a saltire cross (in red), maybe it is linked with Anarchism. There's an additional element in the video which might give a clue at least on the site: a marquee is observed in the facade, reading "Regal" (I don't know if it's a hotel or a department store). Perhaps this London landmark could give some hints as far as location goes and also about a rather popular meeting place for demonstrations. However, I have not been able to properly recognize this flag and have a positive Id.
Esteban Rivera, 10 April 2023

Don't recognise the flag, I'm afraid, although it does look like that of a right-wing group of some kind (or perhaps some kind of English nationalist group, since it's a St George flag, rather than a UJ). But the location is Speaker's Corner, on the corner of Hyde Park. The current location is a short distance away from that in the film. The Regal in the background is on Oxford Street, by the corner of Great Cumberland Place - it was a cinema at the time, but on today's Google Streetview it's now shops.
Ian Sumner, 10 April 2023

Wouldn't have been very unopportune to show a flag of Nazism or Fascism at that time in London? The war against Germany was still on and in 1944 the luck was clearly on the side of the Allies. I also think an English nationalist group is out of the question, since the war effort made everyone British and there was really no explicit English nationalism until many decades later. I have no clue as to what this flag is, but I would guess it had something to do with the war effort. Maybe the flag of some voluntary auxillary force?
Elias Granqvist, 11 April 2023

As Elias says, it would have been a very bold man indeed to stand up and proclaim pro-fascist statements at this time. Certainly the leaders of the fascist parties had been interned early in the war, on remote Scottish islands and the like. But there was the English National Association, which contested a by-election in 1943. But the point of Speaker's Corner was that anyone could stand up and make a speech if they wanted. And while English nationalism is strident and active in the modern era, it certainly has its roots in the late nineteenth century, so I wouldn't rule it out completely. My first thought when I saw Esteban's post was that ENA was perhaps a mistake for ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association who organised touring concert parties for service personnel, but they had a badge, which is not on this flag. Volunteer auxiliary forces were quickly taken over by the Government. Even then, flags were not considered vital to the war effort, and while many organisations wanted flags during the war (eg Civil Defence, National Fire Service), textile shortages were always cited as the reason why they should not be made, or made in quantity (even the Royal Air Force had to wait until the 1950s before squadron standards were issued, and they had been proposed in 1942).
Ian Sumner, 11 April 2023

23-10 Flag Badges

Image from Joserra Zas, 20 April 2023

The first flag is the Swedish travel company Nyman & Schultz; the other three pins are still unidentified.
Zachary Harden, 15 September 2024.

Image from Tatjana Voljavec Scarborough, 21 May 2023

Dear Mr. Karner, I hope you are able to help me decipher the pennants in the photo I attached. They are on a silver cigarette case inscribed Brioni September 1912. IT belonged to my great uncle . He captained the Szigetvàr - Zenta class. I am curious to know what they stand for. I would appreciate your assistance.
Tatjana Voljavec Scarborough, 21 May 2023

23-12 U.S. yacht club burgee in Lennon music video

image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 December 2023

The music video of John Lennon’s 1980 song “Watching the Wheels” shows briefly at 01:56 [ https://youtu.be/uVXR2LYeFBI&t=1m56s ] a triangular flag at the aft of a small watercraft apparently in the San Francisco Bay. It seems to be a yatch club burgee, apparently black with a white roundel containing a large black letter "R". The shape of this flag is not simply triangular but rather tappering, yes, but also forked. The "R" is uppercase and serifless. This boating scene is part of what seems to be home movies shot during his “househusband” years of 1975-1980, and thus the exact color of the flag might be off, even if this is color footage. (This is a truely great song, by the way.)
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 December 2023

It look like that's not the case, here. I lean towards it not being such a small craft after all, and we're being mislead by the singer looking back. S, it's more likely to rather be a jack. It seems to be a yacht club burgee, apparently black with a white roundel containing a large black letter "R". Maybe. It may well be a marine blue of sorts.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 10 December 2023

23-13 Israel flag with Arabic inscription in Palestine Positive ID

image located by Esteban Rivera, 23 December 2023