Original British Early 1950’s Era Royal Army Ordnance Corps Flag by Turtle & Pearce Flag Makers – 46” x 75” Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. Now this is a lovely example of an early Queen Elizabeth II Reign (1952/54 era) flag for the British Royal Army Ordnance Corps. The flag itself is in a wonderful, worn state of appearance but still displays incredibly well!

The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armored vehicles and other military equipment, ammunition and clothing and certain minor functions such as laundry, mobile baths and photography. The RAOC was also responsible for a major element of the repair of Army equipment. In 1942 the latter function was transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and the vehicle storage and spares responsibilities of the Royal Army Service Corps were in turn passed over to the RAOC. The RAOC retained repair responsibilities for ammunition, clothing and certain ranges of general stores. In 1964 the McLeod Reorganization of Army Logistics resulted in the RAOC absorbing petroleum, rations and accommodation stores functions from the Royal Army Service Corps as well as the Army Fire Service, barrack services, sponsorship of NAAFI (EFI) and the management of staff clerks from the same Corps. On 5 April 1993, the RAOC was one of the corps that amalgamated to form The Royal Logistic Corps (RLC).

The flag colors are the blue with red stripe “tactical recognition flash” colors and is of multi-piece construction. The blue wool body has red diagonal stripes sewn into the fabric. The center is a dyed the insignia of the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, a shield with three cannons surmounted by three cannon balls. This is surrounded by a “garter” reading HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE (“shame on anyone who thinks evil of it”), with a Queens’s Crown on top. Below this is a banner with the Royal Ordnance Corps motto SUA TELA TONANTI, which translates to literally “His [i.e. Jupiter’s] Missiles to the one who is Thundering”, but commonly translated as “To the Warrior his Arms”.

The flag is in great condition but is not without its expected faults. Unfortunately there is a large section of fabric missing which you can see in the photos as well as a few areas of later repairs to better preserve the integrity. Surprisingly enough, the canvas header retains a faint manufacturer’s label for Turtle & Pearce Flag Makers of London, England. It would appear that Turtle and Pearce were absorbed into the company “Flagmakers” which is why their name is present on the tag. Flagmakers was founded by George Tutill in 1837. Initially to produce banners and regalia for Trade Unions and Friendly societies, the business expanded into signaling flags for the Royal Navy, and quietly became one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of flags, banners, and pennants.

Throughout the 20th Century, they joined forces with other flag making businesses to build their expertise and capacity to provide customers with the highest quality flags. By welcoming Turtle & Pearce in the 1950s and Able Flags in 1990s, Flagmakers has become one of the leading flag suppliers in the UK.

A beauty of a flag that comes more than ready for further research and display.