Per Ardua ad Astra
A walk on the cold side...
I was walking across the St Clements Danes churchyard this morning and saw the most lovely little flower tribute placed at the bottom of the statue to Lord Dowding. It was a moving tribute. Hand written, perhaps the scrawl of an elderly person. And simply, emotionally it said thank you for keeping us safe, Per Ardua ad Astra As far as can be ascertained, the motto of the Royal Air Force dates back to 1912 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.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Fighter Command
A statue of Dowding stands outside St Clement Danes church on The Strand, London. The inscription reads:
'Air Chief Marshal Lord Dowding was commander-in-chief of Fighter Command, Royal Air Force, from its formation in 1936 until November 1940. He was thus responsible for the preparation for and the conduct of the Battle of Britain. With remarkable foresight, he ensured the equipment of his command with monoplane fighters, the Hurricane and the Spitfire. He was among the first to appreciate the vital importance of R.D.F. (radar) and an effective command and control system for his squadrons. They were ready when war came. In the preliminary stages of that war, he thoroughly trained his minimal forces and conserved them against strong political pressure to disperse and misuse them. His wise and prudent judgement and leadership helped to ensure victory against overwhelming odds and thus prevented the loss of the Battle of Britain and probably the whole war. To him, the people of Britain and of the Free World owe largely the way of life and the liberties they enjoy today.'
Hugh Dowding was born at Moffat in 1882. Educated at Winchester and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, he was commissioned in the Royal Garrison Artillery and spent the early years of his service career overseas. After spending two years at the Staff College, Camberley, Dowding took the opportunity to learn to fly at Brooklands and gained his RFC wings during 1913.
The outbreak of the Great War saw him spend time in France with Nos 6 and 9 Squadrons before his interest in wireless telegraphy led to him returning home to form the Wireless Experimental Establishment at Brooklands in April 1915. Within months, however, Dowding was back in France, this time as Officer Commanding No 16 Squadron before taking command of the Ninth (Headquarters) Wing during the Battle of the Somme. Differences of opinion with Trenchard saw him return the UK to run the Southern Training Brigade at Salisbury, a post he occupied for the rest of the war.
Following the war, Dowding spent time in the Air Ministry and in Staff Officer posts, but it was his appointment as the Air Council as Air Member for Supply and Research at the end of 1930 and his subsequent position as Air Member for Research and Development were he influenced the future shape of Britain's defences. Here, he encouraged the development of advanced fighter aircraft, and it was largely on his initiative that the Hurricane and Spitfire were ordered into production in 1934. He also showed tremendous interest in the detection of enemy aircraft and provided his full support to the new Radio Direction Finding (RDF) equipment then under development.
His interest in defence made him the natural choice to command the new Fighter Command when it was set up in July 1936, and was disappointed to be overlooked for the position of Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) in 1937 (which went to Newall). Dowding continued to prepare his Command for war, overseeing the introduction new aircraft, bullet-proof wind-screens, the development of the Observer Corps and the integration of RDF units with communications and control organisations into a structure far in advance of anything else in the world.
Heavy fighter losses in France saw Dowding warn the War Cabinet of the dire consequences should the present wastage rates continue, and a letter dated 16 May 1940 is one of the great documents of history. After covering the evacuation from Dunkirk, he had just enough aircraft to fight the Luftwaffe in the one place they could be effectively used - within the comprehensive air defence system he had built in the UK. Even so, he admitted that the situation was "critical in the extreme" and while it is true that the immortal "Few" - his 'chicks' as Churchill christened them - won the Battle using the organisation he had created, the Luftwaffe lost it through bad leadership, faulty tactics and mistaken target selection. His personal role was, of course, limited. Day-to-day control of the fighters rested with the Group Commanders, of which Air Vice-Marshal Park (11 Group) and Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory (12 Group) bore the brunt of the enemy attacks, but the differing views of the two men (Park's closely matched those of Dowding, while Leigh-Mallory favoured large formations of defending aircraft - 'big wings'), and Dowding's inability settle the squabble between the two led to serious criticism of him. The Air Ministry favoured Leigh-Mallory's policies, and Dowding was increasingly seen as uncooperative and difficult to get on with. Within weeks of the end of the Battle of Britain, and with a new CAS (Air Chief Marshal Portal) in post, Dowding (now aged 58) relinquished his position. He was persuaded by Churchill to head an aircraft purchasing mission to the USA, a role for which he was quite unsuited, and also headed a major RAF economy study before finally retiring in July 1942.
An unwillingness to break with Service precedents meant that Dowding was not promoted to the rank of Marshal of the Royal Force - even when it was suggested by the King, and he spent the rest of his life largely away from the RAF. In later years he became President of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association. After his death in 1970, his remains were interred in Westminster Abbey, a fitting tribute to his remarkable achievements.
SM
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