Sep-05 Issue - The Heraldry Society

ooch of French Imperial design that she had
purchased in Paris. I took this eagle brooch to
the Admiralty to show Mr Churchill and Admiral
Prince Louis of Battenberg. They much
preferred it to the goose design of the artist and
adopted it for the badge of the Royal Naval Air
Service.”
The Royal Naval Air Service came into being
on 1 July 1914, and the initial dress regulations
were promulgated in Admiralty Weekly Order
No 2, where there is a first official reference to
the emblem of the navy’s new air arm: “The
badge of an eagle will be worn by members of
the Royal Naval Air Service at the top left
sleeve”. Later, when it was felt that aircrew
should be further differentiated, Admiralty
Weekly Order 756/16, of 21 April 1916, stated
that in addition to the eagle on the left sleeve a
further eagle should be worn on the left
shoulder strap. Then, on 8 June 1917, in
Admiralty Weekly Order 2106/17, aircrew were
required to wear the eagle on both sleeves and
both shoulder straps.
With so many references to the eagle, there
can be no doubt as to its use by the Royal
Naval Air Service, or to its subsequent use by
the newly-formed Royal Air Force, which
adopted the rank badges of the Royal Naval Air
Service and the rank titles of the Royal Flying
Corps. As such, a lieutenant colonel wore
“three rows of distinguishing lace surmounted
by bird (sic) and crown”, the latter being similar
to the badge on an officer’s field service cap of
today. It was not until 27 August 1919 that an
Air Council Order replaced army titles of rank
with Royal Air Force titles of rank, and
consigned the ‘bird and crown’ device from the
sleeve to the shoulder strap.
Having used Admiralty Orders to establish
that the Royal Naval Air Service emblem was
an eagle, and Air Ministry Orders to confirm
that the eagle had been adopted by the Royal
Air Force, it would seem that these same
orders could be used to reveal the genesis of
the albatross debate. From 1 April 1918, the
Royal Air Force undertook all Service flying
training, and detached some of its air and
ground crews for service with the Royal Navy.
In April 1924 these detachments were
designated the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Air
Force. Soon afterwards, naval officers began
to train as pilots with the Royal Air Force, and
they then joined its fleet air arm: but the
Admiralty decided to award its own flying
badge. So, when Admiralty Fleet Order No
2793 was issued, on 2 October 1925, it
described the new badge for navy pilots as: “A
silver anchor and cable of silver embroidery
surrounded by a laurel wreath of silver
embroidery superimposed on the wings of an
albatross”.
So, with the albatross attributed to the Royal
Navy of 1925, and the eagle established as the
emblem of the Royal Air Force from 1918,
attention now turns to the motto which is
inscribed on the circlet.
Having been approved by George V, ‘Per
Ardua Ad Astra’ was promulgated as the motto
for the Royal Flying Corps in Army Order No 3,
on 15 March 1913. The motto had been
suggested by Lieutenant J S Yule, of the Royal
Engineers, who discovered the words in Sir
Henry Rider Haggard’s novel ‘The People of
the Mist’. In the first chapter there is a
description of “two stone pillars on whose
summit stood griffins of black marble
embracing coats of arms and banners
inscribed with the device Per Ardua Ad Astra”.
According to Group Captain A H Stradling in
his ‘Customs of the Services’, published by
Gale and Polden in 1966, Rider Haggard’s
source was the Irish family of Mulvany, whose
motto it had been for centuries. But its
meaning was in dispute. According to
Squadron Leader P G Herring, in his ‘Customs
and Traditions of the Royal Air Force’,
published by Gale and Polden in 1961, the
Mulvany family understood the meaning of the
motto to be “Through Difficulties to the Skies”,
whilst Rider Haggard believed it to be “Through
Struggle to the Stars”. Seeking literal meaning
of the motto, the Air Ministry approached the
College of Arms, who declared that no
authoritative translation was possible. So in
the words of a contemporary postscript by the
Air Council Member for Personnel, “Let
everyone translate it as they think fit”.
Group Captain P J Rodgers MBE FRAeS
RAF (Retd)
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