British Army "Tactical Recognition Flash" Guide

Upon receiving a British Army jacket last year, I was puzzled as to what the flash on the right shoulder was. I eventually found out what it was, but was surprised to know there are so many different flashes out there.

So, for the convenience of everyone here, (especially the British militaria collectors) I researched and uploaded images of all known TRFs used by the British Army today. Some units such as SAS do not have TRFs.

Note -- most of these were drawn in paint, since they are fairly simple. However; some of the more intricate flashes are super-sized images of that TRF that has been blown up from a thumbnail, so the resolution may not be perfect, but should provide a clear enough picture to help determine the identity of said TRF.

The following units had no information available, meaning they either do not have a TRF, or a current TRF was not found at the time of this posting.

Units without TRF: Royal Army Chaplains Corps, Army Physical Training Corps, Small Arms School Corps, Corps of Army Music, General Service Corps, Intelligence Corps, Army Air Corps (as a whole, excluding shown 9th Regiment TRF) and the SAS.

This list is as complete as my own research could make it, but there are bound to be units I may have overlooked, and it is probably by no means 110% complete, so if you have or know of a TRF not listed here, by all means please add it!

Household Cavalry


The Blues and Royals and The Life Guards

Royal Armoured Corps -- Heavy Cavalry


Queen's Dragoon Guards


Royal Scots Dragoon Guards


Royal Dragoon Guards

Royal Armoured Corps -- Light Cavalry


Queen's Royal Hussars


9th/12th Lancers


King's Royal Hussars


Light Dragoons


Queen's Royal Lancers

The Royal Tank Regiment


1st & 2nd Royal Tank Regt

Royal Armoured Corps -- The Yeomanry

Royal Yeomanry


Queen's Own Yeomanry


Royal Mercian & Lancastrian Yeomanry


Royal Wessex Yeomanry

Infantry -- Foot Guards


Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards

Infantry -- Line Infantry & Rifles

Royal Regiment of Scotland


Princess of Wales's Regiment


Duke of Lancaster's Regiment


Royal Regiment of Fusiliers


1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment


2nd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment


3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment


Yorkshire Regiment


Royal Welsh


Mercian Regiment


Royal Irish


1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment


2nd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment


3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment


4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment


Royal Ghurka Rifles


The Rifles

Support & Services


Royal Artillery


Royal Engineers


Royal Signal Corps (this is a two-colour patch, white and blue, I simply forgot to do an outline)


Royal Army Dental Corps


Royal Army Medical Corps


Royal Army Veterinary Corps


Royal Logistic Corps


Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers


Adjutant General's Corps (SPS Branch shown for example, other flashes are issued for neccessary branch, ie. MPGS, ETS, ALS)


Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps

Other Branches of the Armed Forces


Royal Air Force


Royal Navy

Miscellaneous TRF's


Pathfinder Platoon


13 Air Assault Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps


7 Air Assault Battalion, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers


9th Regiment, Army Air Corps (again, another two-colour patch without an outline)

Hi Ben ref your mention of the SAS not having a TRF that might be true of 22 Regular but I know for a fact that 21 had one certainly for the recent deployment to Afghanistan, my nephew has one at my sisters house would you like me to get a photo of it for this section?

Grim, if you have anything to add that was left out or undocumented, by all means feel free to submit it!
I had figured when I did this that despite all the info I could find, I was bound to forget a few.

I think you've done a great job mate so no worries Ben, I was pleased to see The Rifles in there I'll take a pic of the Royal Green Jackets TRF too and the TA one I used more recently and then hopefully manage to get a pic of my nephews 21 SAS used TRF

The more TRFs the better, so it's all good!

Is this list for TRFs, as distinct from DZ Flashes?

It has DZ flashes! Doesn't it?

I notice Ben that I promised a pic of my Nephews 21 SAS TRF well as of now I still haven't managed to get a pic of it, also he's back with sand between his toes.... Not returning till January. However looking through his pics I have the other day I'm sure I saw one on an arm of one of my nephews colleagues

Yesterday it crashed my computer.

16 Para Bn. Pathfinder Plt

Right, now a few more...

16 Para Bde



5 Para Bde



6th Field Force (worn on left sleeve by Paras, right by everyone else)

Longshaor wrote:Right, now a few more...

16 Para Bde



5 Para Bde



6th Field Force (worn on left sleeve by Paras, right by everyone else)

Top one looks more like Para RHQ.

My Nephew's BRF DZ Flash:


2nd (NC) Signal Brg


16 (Lincoln) Company, Pathfinders (V)- left is the last issue one


47 Middlesex Yeomanry, Sig Sqn later - later 305 Abn Sig sqn:


16 Field Force (Non-Para):


5th Infantry Brg - later 5AB:


16 Heavy Drop Coy RAOC:

44 Para Bde



10 (County of London) Para



15 (Scottish) Para



17 Para Bn

Are they the Geogeodude ones?

Are they the Geogeodude ones?

Don't know who/what that is. These were e-mailed to me by a retired Ranger buddy for reference.

Its a bloke on ebay that sells DZ Flashes, and people claim they are copies... however if thes are Geogeodude flashes, they look pretty pucka.

Tommo wrote:Its a bloke on ebay that sells DZ Flashes, and people claim they are copies... however if thes are Geogeodude flashes, they look pretty pucka.

He certainly has some amazing patches and cannot comment as to if they are originals or repros but i hope for the sake of his buyers that they are originals as some go for BIG money.

Also,where on earth if they are originals does he get such a constant supply of them?

Couple of points (apologies if these have already been covered):

1. In Airborne units they're DZ flashes, strictly speaking, rather than TRFs. (For example 7 (Para) RHA have a DZ flash which appears to be identical to the RA TRF, but is actually about 1/4" bigger. Units serving in 16 Air Assault Brigade wear a DZ flash which generally takes precedence over their parent unit's TRF, i.e 13 CSLR wear their Red/Black DZ flash rather than the standard RLC Flash.)

2. This DZ Flash


is the old RHQ Para one, recently replaced by one with a Black band on the right to represent 4 Para. It is used by members of the Parachute Regiment not currently serving in a Battalion or other part of 16 AA Bde, and therefore not entitled to wear their Bn DZ Flash. In reality most people wear the DZ flash of their previous Bn unless on RHQ posting, recruiting etc etc.

3. This:

Is 5 AB Bde; I believe it was originally 5 Inf Bde prior to becoming an Airborne formation, but was never a purely Parachute Brigade.

4. Of these:

the one on the right is genuine, the one on the left isn't. There is a dealer (maybe several) who claim these were the last issued DZ flashes for the Company; the 16 Coy DZ flash was never issued, but 'local purchase', that is ordered by the OC and paid for by the blokes. The one on the left, whilst manufactured using the BeVo technique (basically meaning it's woven I believe) and no doubt made by the same manufacturer as other current DZ flashes, is not how the 16 Coy ones were made. In living memory they were all printed, though I did see one which was 'appliqued' by being sewn together from separate bits of fabric.

5. This:

I believe is just a slight simplification of the 16 Coy Flash. It was an independent Volunteer 'Pathfinder Company' variously attached to 15 (SV) Para and then 4 (V) Para.

Hope this is of use.

Thank's, looked up this sight as a reference.

Some great flashes there.

Glad to see the 16 Lincs Paras there too! Just to let you know the RAMC TRF is upside down and there is no 21 TRF.

Some brilliant Flashes there gents, I am hoping someone can help me Identify a Badge/Flash I saw on an image the other day which has me lost, is it Royal Artillery? The only other version I have seen had an RA Cap Badge with it?

Not sure if its just the pic but it looks Red/Black,if so not RA I dont think as they were Red/Blue.

Gulf91 wrote:Not sure if its just the pic but it looks Red/Black,if so not RA I dont think as they were Red/Blue.

Thanks Gulf91, I think it is red blue, just bad image quality as the photo was taken in the early 1940s. I cannot find any Flashes/Patches that are red black.

Phil.

AAC had several flashes when I joined but has now gone down to one.

9 AAC was light blue (beret colour) rectangle atop a dark blue rectangle making a square shape, helpfully RS also had an almost identical one with white atop darkish blue like illustrated in the first post of this thread.

3 AAC was a light blue (beret colour) triangle with inverted red triangle in the centre

4 AAC was a red rectangle atop a green triangle making a square shape

The other Regiments prior to the Corps adopting the one for all flash had a rectangular flash in the colours of the stable belt, two horizontal stripes of a medium blue colour with a light (beret colour) blue running through the centre. Now all the Regiments use this flash, 4 Regiment keeping the red and green strip on barrack rank slides.


Bde/Div flashes worn by AAC that I saw during my time were 1 AAC pre MTP, Subdued black/green 1 (UK) Armd Div (charging rhino), post MTP full colour 1 (UK) Armd Div then subdued black green JHC (swooping owl clutching lightning bolt) 3/4 Regt 16 AA Bde in full colour and sand/black and green/black subdued depending on activity/availability pre disband of 16 AA Bde and depending on Sqn post disband.

5 Regt JHC green/black subdued

661 Sqn also sports a yellow maple leaf over red background as a battle honour from AOP days in WW2 spotting for Canadian forces and 651 and 664 Sqn's have the Maid of Warsaw on No.2 dress as battle honour for something to do with AOP duties relating to Poland in WW2.

That's just the bits I can think of off the top of my head without trawling through old photo's, books and the such and looking up defunct units/Sqns.