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Daily Record
07-05-2025
- General
- Daily Record
The Scottish mother who funded WW2 planes after tragic death of her three sons
The MacRobert family of Douneside, Aberdeenshire, lost all three sons in separate air tragedies before and during the Second World War As Scotland prepares to mark VE Day, the extraordinary story of one family's wartime sacrifice continues to resonate more than 80 years on. Families all across the country were devastated by tragic losses around the Second World War. However, the suffering of the MacRobert family of Douneside in Aberdeenshire was heartbreaking in the extreme. All three sons of Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert and her late husband Sir Alexander MacRobert were killed in separate aviation tragedies in the years leading up to and during the war. Their courage, and their mother's powerful response to grief, created a lasting legacy that still shapes charitable work in Scotland today. The eldest son, Alasdair, inherited the family baronetcy following Sir Alexander's death in 1922. But in 1938, Alasdair was killed in a civil aviation accident at the age of just 26. The title passed to his younger brother, Roderic, a Royal Air Force pilot. Tragically, Roderic died three years later on May 22, 1941, also aged 26, during a daring low-level attack on a German-held airfield in Iraq. The baronetcy then passed to the youngest son, Iain, who had joined the RAF straight from Cambridge University. Less than six weeks after Roderic's death, 24-year-old Iain went missing during a search and rescue mission from RAF Thornaby in North Yorkshire. His Blenheim aircraft never returned and his body was never recovered. Faced with the unimaginable loss of all three sons, Lady MacRobert responded with action that showed extraordinary resilience. According to The MacRobert Trust, she donated £25,000 (equivalent to £1.6mil in 2025) to the RAF to fund a bomber, asking that it be named 'MacRobert's Reply' in their honour. The Short Stirling bomber was handed over to XV Squadron in October 1941 and was first captained by Flying Officer PJS Boggis, who flew twelve operational missions in the aircraft. The gesture marked the beginning of a tradition that lives on within the RAF to this day, with a series of aircraft continuing to carry the name 'MacRobert's Reply'. In 1942, Lady MacRobert donated a further £20,000 (£1.2mil in 2025) for the purchase of four Hurricane fighters. Three were named after her sons and the fourth after herself. They were sent to support RAF operations in the Middle East. Her generosity and determination in the face of personal tragedy built on the legacy of her husband, who had risen from modest beginnings to make his fortune in India through hard work and education. It also reflected the spirit of her own American parents, who were renowned mountaineers, explorers and authors. Between 1943 and 1950, Lady MacRobert established a series of charitable trusts designed to promote the values she believed had inspired so many young people, including her sons, to serve during the war. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. She was determined to create opportunities for the next generation to embrace 'the best traditional ideals and spirit', values that still underpin the work of The MacRobert Trust today. Lady MacRobert died in 1954, but her story and the family's sacrifice have not been forgotten. Her legacy was later featured on BBC Radio 4's Great Lives series and continues to be shared by The MacRobert Trust, which remains active in Scotland supporting education, training and service personnel.
BBC News
06-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
VE Day: The legacy of an Aberdeenshire mother who lost her sons to war
VE Day: The legacy of a mother who lost her sons to war Just now Share Save Rachel Bell and Ken Banks BBC Scotland News Share Save MacRobert Trust Lady Rachel MacRobert lost all three of her sons The losses experienced by the MacRobert family in World War Two were enormous but at the same time typical of the devastation caused by the war. Lady Rachel MacRobert brought up her three sons in Aberdeenshire. Her eldest boy died in a civil flying accident in 1938 and her surviving sons were killed in 1941 while serving as RAF pilots. Determined their names would not be forgotten, she donated the equivalent of £1m today to name a plane in their honour. The Short Stirling bomber was called MacRobert's Reply and the tradition continues to this day, with numerous aircraft having since carried variations on the name. The pain suffered through the loss of Lady Rachel's three boys must have been unbearable. Alasdair died at the age of 26 in 1938. His brother Roderic, who was also 26, was killed in action over Iraq in May 1941. Just six weeks later, her youngest son, Iain, failed to return from a search and rescue operation from RAF Thornaby in North Yorkshire. His body was never found. He was 24 years old. Lady Rachel wrote a defiant letter to the first crew of MacRobert's Reply The first Short Stirling to go by the name MacRobert's Reply took to the air in September 1941 and Lady Rachel marked the occasion with a letter to the crew. "The best of good luck boys - always - whenever and wherever you go. I know you will strike hard, sharp and straight to the mark. That is the only language the enemy understands," she wrote. "My thoughts and those of thousands of other mothers are with you and we are truly grateful to all concerned. Also my thanks to those you have the care of my 'Reply', and prepare her for her flights. "May the blows you strike bring us nearer to victory. God bless you all." MacRobert Trust The original MacRobert's Reply was a Short Stirling bomber Lady Rachel was a geologist from a wealthy Massachusetts family. She was the second wife of Sir Alexander MacRobert, a self-made millionaire from Aberdeen who founded the British India Corporation, and who had died in 1922. The MacRobert Trust charity was set up following her death in 1954 and provides grants for charities across the UK. Gillian Currie is its chief executive. "The grief she must have felt would be unimaginable," she told BBC Scotland News. "Only a couple of weeks after she learned of Iain's death, she wrote the letter to the Secretary of State for Air. "In the letter, she wrote 'I have no more sons to wear the badge or carry on the fight but if I had 10 sons I know they would all have followed that line of duty'. "I think those words really capture her character. She was such an independently minded and determined lady. "Her MacRobert's Reply really shows that." The latest plane to carry on the tradition is a Typhoon fighter jet - called "Sir Roderic" - which operates out of RAF Lossiemouth in Moray The first MacRobert's Reply's pilot was 22-year-old Peter Boggis, who went on to fly 15 missions in the aircraft over Europe. His final mission in the aircraft was over the French port city of Brest, for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his bravery and skill. A year later, Lady Rachel donated a further £20,000 to pay for four Hurricane fighters to join RAF operations in the Middle East. They were named after herself, and her three sons. The first "Sir Roderic" fighter - named after her middle son - was flown by Flight Lieutenant "Blondie" Walker. He flew 160 mission and was shot down three times. Squadron Leader Clive Mitchell, from RAF Lossiemouth, explained how the base recently received his medals. ''They weren't mounted when we got them so he had never worn them," he said. "He had two medals for bravery. A lot of the individuals who fought at the time were like that. It was let's get the job done, let's get home to the families. Let's get it all sorted out." For a long time, XV Squadron flew MacRobert's Reply, with various Buccaneer and Tornado jets taking the name. When XV Squadron was disbanded in 2017, the MacRobert legacy was carried on by VI Squadron. A Typhoon Fighter jet, based at RAF Lossiemouth, currently has the name "Sir Roderic". Lady Rachel died in 1954 and was buried in Douneside, Aberdeenshire. As well as honouring the MacRobert brothers, the various aircraft which have taken their names are a reminder of the many pilots who flew in them during World War Two and beyond. "It's definitely still a source of inspiration," Squadron Leader Mitchell said. "To do the job you're doing you need to understand what your predecessors have done. "You can't understate the sacrifice that those people gave. They were the people for the time, but they were just normal people who went and did what was required." When Lady Rachel died in 1954, there was an RAF flypast over her home at Douneside. Eighty years on from VE Day, the current MacRobert aircraft is a reminder of the sacrifices made for victory and a mother's courageous call to carry on.
BBC News
04-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Dover charity shop staff reunite WW2 bible with airman's family
A Bible that once belonged to a World War Two airman has been returned to his family in Scotland, after being handed in to a charity in book had been given to Flying Officer Norman McEwen by the National Bible Society of was discovered in the Dover shop of the Emmaus charity, an organisation which helps the homeless back into family said the Bible will be blessed at the next gathering of the McEwen family, to be held near Loch Fyne. Support worker Jackie Pearson, also a military veteran, set herself the task of finding Mr McEwen's said: "Being ex-military, I knew as soon as I saw the service Bible that it was very precious, and I needed to return it to Norman's family."With the help of local historian Phil Eyden, she was able to establish that Mr McEwen, originally from Baldernock, had been a rear gunner on a Short Stirling bomber in 190 was killed when his plane was shot down over Arnhem in the Netherlands on 19 September 1944 as they dropped ammunition and supplies to troops taking part in Operation Market Garden, an unsuccessful attempt to break into northern Germany. The Bible has since been returned to Mr McEwen's great-great-nephew, Ross said: "Norman's only surviving child, Rognvald, spoke very highly of his father."Even as a man in his late 80s, he remained full of pride in his father's part in the saving of liberty and freedom, even though that same service resulted in Rognvald's time with his father being cut abruptly and tragically short."
BBC News
28-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Memorials for forgotten Cambridgeshire World War Two airfields
A charity that commemorates major airfields says two new memorials will be placed in Cambridgeshire to recognise the importance of the will be unveiled at Oakington and Bourn Airfields on 28 and 29 March to remember their contributions to World War Airfields Of Britain Conservation Trust (ABCT) said while some sites were still used by the Royal Air Force others had been taken over by organisations or is undergoing development to become a combination of housing and industry and the Oakington site has become a new town. ABCT said there had been "huge national public demand" for the memorials as the airfields of Britain had "proved to be the greatest assets this country has ever seen".The Oakington site, now home to Northstowe, opened in July 1940 as a substantially built RAF bomber airfield. Various units and aircrafts resided there during the war and it was remembered as home to No 7 Squadron and its initial use of Short Stirling heavy bombers, which had not long entered RAF service, said the war it became Transport Command control before Flying Training Command took over in 1950. It switched to multi-engined aircraft training in the early 1960s and closed in March 1975. Since then it has been used as a British Army and immigration reception centre before redevelopment to create the new town of Northstowe."Despite such changes, Oakington still remains recognised as a famous and distinguished British airfield," said an ABCT spokesperson. Bourn was originally Oakington's satellite airfield and was flagged for development shortly into wartime, opening during 1941. Until the end of World War Two, several RAF Bomber Command squadrons served there with distinction and it was occupied by hangars for combat aircraft duties included meteorological reconnaissance, similar to eventually became a significant civil airfield, notably being used by the Rural Flying Corps until general aviation activity finally ceased in 2020. The Bourn Quarter has been redeveloped into a business park also providing accommodation for businesses, including some involved in the progression of defence technology. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
