The Internet’s largest site devoted to the study of flags.
It may sound like trainspotting, but I’ve been sucked in a bit by the precision of the facts.
For example, the US flag isn’t just Red, White, and Blue. It’s:
Cable No. 70180 Old Glory Red
Cable No. 70001 White
Cable No. 70075 Old Glory Blue
For the Aussie flag (shown above):
“The outer radius of the 7-pointed stars in the Southern Cross should be 1/14 the width of the fly (the “height” of the flag). For the 5-pointed star it should be 1/24. The Commonwealth star should be 3/20. In each case, the inner radius should be 4/9 of the outer radius.”
Do they really mean “1/14 the width of the height of the flag”? What does that mean?
Check out http://flagspot.net/flags/vxt-dvf4.html#fly (a couple links from Rob’s starting point link). Since a flag may be flown in different positions, and may not be rectangular, “height” is imprecise. It’s just good shorthand for how most Americans would think of their flag. Our field is by our hoist, with stripes leading to the fly. Our fly and hoist are the same width, which width with a vertical pole is the height (not agl).