History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Share #1 Posted January 3, 2014 This was laying on a car's hood at the local flea market a week back and was drawn to it. Upon further inspection, I found it to be dated April 1944 and had an interesting construction, it is stitched together in panels and then sewn on the border. It is rather large, at least 8 ft x b ft...took a photo of it compared to one of my dogs (who is about 2 ft long). I asked the seller about any information they might have on it and they told me that it was purchased from a veteran's estate recently. While not Axis, it is an interesting Allied piece...it is also dated pre-DDAY. Were these French-made or....? Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share #2 Posted January 3, 2014 More photos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share #3 Posted January 3, 2014 Close-ups Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share #4 Posted January 3, 2014 Markings It states: ALPH SET 3 SFGW APR 1944 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share #5 Posted January 3, 2014 Ring Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share #6 Posted January 3, 2014 Panels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share #7 Posted January 3, 2014 More panels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyCanteen Posted January 3, 2014 Share #8 Posted January 3, 2014 I love it, I wouldn't have passed on it either. Allied made for the Liberation? RC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted January 3, 2014 Share #9 Posted January 3, 2014 I don't think this is a French flag. The dimensions look wrong. I think you have a Naval signal flag for the letter "T". Notice the stenciling says "Alpha Set", as in alphabet. http://digital.library.northwestern.edu/wwii-posters/img/ww1647-13.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garandomatic Posted January 3, 2014 Share #10 Posted January 3, 2014 I wondered the same thing. Seems to me the panels would maybe make it a bit stronger? Still a cool find, as that is a darned big signal flag, and it must have been on a darned big ship! I have what I think is a WWI French flag. Odd material, very light, somewhat holy, and ridiculously faded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RustyCanteen Posted January 3, 2014 Share #11 Posted January 3, 2014 Gil, that is what I was thinking. Very neat either way. RC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
History Man Posted January 3, 2014 Author Share #12 Posted January 3, 2014 Hmmm...I never thought about that. After thinking about it and looking it over, it does appear to be made of the same material as other naval flags I have handled. It is definitely a large flag, what type of ship would this have gone on? Philip Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nkomo Posted January 3, 2014 Share #13 Posted January 3, 2014 Definitely not French. Wrong color sequence. If it were French, it would be (from L to R) blue, white, and red. Whatever the case, good piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted January 3, 2014 Share #14 Posted January 3, 2014 I agree.The colors are reversed. Looks like a T on the bunting edge in the photo and stenciling looks more of a US done thing. Nice flag though.Great display piece Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doyler Posted January 3, 2014 Share #15 Posted January 3, 2014 Also I believe April in french is AVRIL and abbreviated Av or Avr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwb123 Posted January 5, 2014 Share #16 Posted January 5, 2014 Hmmm...I never thought about that. After thinking about it and looking it over, it does appear to be made of the same material as other naval flags I have handled. It is definitely a large flag, what type of ship would this have gone on? Philip We had someone on here before who had some knowledge of the different sizes of flags assigned to the various sizes of ships. They were talking about the US flags, but I think the same would apply to vaarious sizes of signal flags as well. This info is probably buried somewhere on the internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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