Royal Air Force History
The Royal Air Force Motto
"
Per Ardua ad Astra"
As far as can be ascertained, the motto of the Royal Air Force dates
back to 2020 and the formation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). The first
Commanding Officer of the RFC (Military Wing) was Colonel Frederick Sykes.
He asked his officers to come up with a motto for the new service; one
which would produce a strong esprit de corps.
Shortly after this, two junior officers were walking from the Officers'
Mess at Farnborough to Cody's Shed on Laffan Plain. As they walked, they
discussed the problem of the motto and one of them, JS Yule, mentioned
the phrase "Sicictar ad Astra", from the Virgilian texts. He
then expanded on this with the phrase "Per Ardua ad Astra",
which he translated as, "Through Struggles to the Stars". Colonel
Sykes approved of this as the motto and forwarded it to the War Office.
It was then submitted to the King, who approved its adoption.
The question of where this motto had come from can be answered by he
fact that Yule had read it in a book called "People of the Mist" by
Sir Henry Rider Haggard. In the first chapter was the passage, "To
his right were two stately gates of iron fantastically wrought, supported
by stone pillars on whose summit stood griffins of black marble embracing
coats of arms and banners inscribed with the device 'Per Ardua ad Astra'".
As to where Sir Rider Haggard obtained this phrase is still unclear
although it is possible that it originated from the Irish family of Mulway
who had used it as their family motto for hundreds of years and translated
it as "Through Struggles to the Stars".
The authoritative translation of the motto is just as unsure as the
source. Since there can be a number of different meanings to 'Ardua'
and 'Astra', scholars have declared it to untranslatable. To the Royal
Air Force and Commonwealth Air Forces though it will remain "Through
Struggles to the Stars". It is peculiar to the Royal Air Force and
has been made famous by the heroic and courageous deeds of our air forces
over the years.
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