Editing Union Jack (section)

===Flying===
{{multiple image
| caption_align     = center
| image1            = Union Flag on staff (hoist left).svg
| image2            = Union Flag on staff (hoist right).svg
| caption1          = Hoist on the left
| caption2          = Hoist on the right
| footer            = The ''correct'' way to fly the flag. If no staff is used and the flag is only seen from one direction, the view shown at left is used.
| footer_align      = center
| total_width       = 230
}}

{{multiple image
| caption_align = center
| image1        = Union Flag on staff (vertical, hoist left).svg
| image2        = Union Flag on staff (vertical, hoist right).svg
| caption1      = Staff from the left 
| caption2      = Staff from the right
| footer        = Correct vertical displays of the Union Flag. The left view is also the vertical display used if there is no staff or a bi-supported staff is used, and flag is only seen from one direction.
| footer_align  = center
| total_width   = 230 
}}
The flag does not have reflection symmetry due to the slight pinwheeling of the St Patrick's and St Andrew's crosses, technically the ''[[Counterchanged|counterchange]] of saltires''. Thus, there is a correct side up. It is one of two national flags with [[Rotational symmetry#Discrete rotational symmetry|two-fold rotational symmetry]], [[Cyclic group|symmetry group]] C<sub>2</sub>, the other being the [[flag of Trinidad and Tobago]]. The original specification of the Union Flag in the royal proclamation of 1 January 1801 did not contain a drawn pattern or express which way the saltires should lie; they were simply "counterchanged" and the red saltire fimbriated. Nevertheless, a convention was soon established which accords most closely with the description.  The flag was deliberately designed with the Irish saltire slightly depressed at the hoist end to reflect the earlier union with Scotland, giving as it were seniority to the Saint Andrew's cross.

When statically displayed, the hoist is on the observer's left. To fly the flag correctly, the white of St Andrew is ''above'' the red of St Patrick in the upper hoist canton (the quarter at the top nearest to the flag-pole). This is expressed by the phrases ''wide white top'' and ''broadside up''. An upside-down flag must be ''turned over'' to be flown correctly; ''rotating it'' 180 degrees will still result in an upside-down flag.

The first drawn pattern for the flag was in a parallel proclamation on 1 January 1801, concerning civil naval ensigns, which drawing shows the [[red ensign]] (also to be used as a red jack by [[privateer]]s).  As it appears in the ''[[London Gazette]]'', the broad stripe is where expected for three of the four quarters, but the upper left quarter shows the broad stripe below.<ref name="London Gazette 1801-01-03" />
{{multiple image
| caption_align = center
| image1        = Upside down Union Flag on staff (hoist left).svg
| image2        = Upside down Union Flag on staff (hoist right).svg
| caption1      = Wrong way, hoist on the left
| caption2      = Wrong way, hoist on the right
| footer        = The Union Flag viewed upside down. The Union Flag is sometimes mistakenly flown upside down.
| footer_align  = center
| total_width   = 230
}}
It is often stated that a flag upside down is a form of distress signal or even a deliberate insult. In the case of the Union Flag, the difference is subtle and is easily missed by the uninformed. It is often displayed upside down inadvertently—even on commercially-made hand waving flags.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Union Jack: Do You Know The Correct Way Up?|url=https://www.forces.net/heritage/history/union-jack-do-you-know-correct-way|first=Julian|last=Perreira|date=18 February 2020|website=Forces Network|access-date=28 May 2020}}</ref>

On 3 February 2009, the [[BBC]] reported that the flag had been inadvertently flown upside-down by the UK government at the signing of a trade agreement with Chinese premier [[Wen Jiabao]]. The error had been spotted by readers of the BBC News website who had contacted the BBC after seeing a photograph of the event.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7866938.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |title=Flag mistake at UK-China ceremony |date=3 February 2009}}</ref>