Flying the flag ... ... but has the ‘Brexit plane’ got things in a spin?

It all depends on which way you look at it, says the RAF, as Johnson’s aircraft takes to the air

‘The design is correct in all respects and carefully follows the correct protocol for displaying the Union Flag on an aircraft’

‘In the British military you don’t have a flag, you have red white and blue roundels – this is uniquely breaking ground’

Danielle Sheridan

IT WAS when Boris Johnson was foreign secretary that he first made known his ambition to have a “Brexit plane”.

Asked in 2018 if he would like one, he conceded that he would, if costs were not exorbitant. Now, as Prime Minister and nearly £1million of taxpayers’ money later, he has succeeded in having his official military jet repainted, complete with Union Flag.

In a statement, the RAF said the Voyager Vespina had previously been “visually indistinguishable from the rest of the Operational Voyager Fleet”.

“This external paint scheme will better reflect its VIP mission and contribution to ‘Global Britain’,” it said.

However, after footage was released yesterday of the aircraft taking off from Cambridgeshire, enthusiasts were quick to point out that the UK’S national flag was upside down and vented their anger on social media. One asked how the Ministry of Defence “could allow this to happen?”

Another wrote: “Union flag is upside down on the Royal Air Force Voyager! Really can’t make it up how incompetent this government is!”

But the RAF explained its reasoning. A source said: “The design is correct in all respects and carefully follows the correct protocol for displaying the Union Flag on an aircraft,” adding: “The convention is for the flag design to appear as though it is flying from a flag placed on the nose of the aircraft as it travels through the air”.

“When viewing the starboard side (right hand side), this can give the mistaken impression that the design is backwards, or upside down, when in fact the observer is simply viewing the reverse side of the flag.

“This protocol is not unique to the UK. A simple online search for images of the United States’ Air Force One starboard side will show that an identical convention has been followed.”

Graham Bartram, chief vexillologist at the Flag Institute, corroborated that the paint job was correct. He said the flag on the starboard will “always have the equivalent of the flagpole on the opposite side to what a layman might expect, ie, toward the front of the vehicle, because it’s how you paint flags on vehicles full stop”.

“It started with horses and how you painted a coat of arms on the side of a horse, then on a shield,” he said.

“If someone had a real physical flag, the flag would be floating back over their shoulder, so people looking at the left side of the aircraft would see the traditional version of the flag and the people on the right would see the reverse of the flag.”

Mr Bartram added: “One of the peculiarities of the Union Flag is that it has rotational symmetry and if you flip the flag left to right it’s also the same as flipping it top to bottom, so people see it and think it’s upside down. It’s not upside down, it’s the other way round.”

Andrew Brooks, director of the Air League, the aviation and aerospace charity, said the flag was “going for a status symbol”.

“If you look at Lancasters or Typhoons, they have a flash of colour but never carry a Union Jack. In the British military you don’t have a flag, you have red white and blue roundels, as a flag is no good for instant identification in combat. This is uniquely breaking ground,” he said.

However, the paintwork did prompt accusations by the Prime Minister’s own MPS of “lurching from one PR disaster to another” after the £900,000 cost was revealed. No 10 responded, saying it would mean the aircraft would “better represent the UK around the world with national branding”.