{"id":1601600,"date":"2025-02-21T13:38:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T12:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/?p=1601600"},"modified":"2025-06-25T10:43:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T08:43:31","slug":"hurricane-sir-iain-40005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/armahobbynews.pl\/en\/blog\/2025\/02\/21\/hurricane-sir-iain-40005\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Glory is the Reward of Valour\u2019: The Remarkable Story of Hurricane \u201cSir Iain\u201d and the \u2018MacRobert Fighters\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u2018It is with a mother\u2019s pride that I enclose a cheque for \u00a325,000, and with it goes my sympathy to those mothers who have also lost their sons, and gratitude to all other mothers whose sons so gallantly carry on the fight.\u2019[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

With just a single flourish of her wrist, Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert proved how the pen can indeed be mightier than the sword. Reeling from having lost all three of her sons to air crashes and operations in just three years, she channelled her grief into purchasing a Short Stirling bomber for the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Shortly afterwards, she gifted a further \u00a320,000 to buy a flight of four Hawker Hurricanes, three of which bore the names of her dead sons: \u2018Sir Alasdair<\/em>\u2019, <\/em>\u2018Sir Roderic<\/em>\u2019, and \u2018Sir Iain<\/em>\u2019. Thus, the most powerful force on the planet \u2013 a mother\u2019s love \u2013 had been weaponised into warbirds, ready to carry on the fight in place of her fallen boys.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Article from the Australian newspaper “The Argus”, 16 January 1943 r.<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the \u2018MacRobert Fighters\u2019, Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIc Trop HL851 (better known as \u201cThe MacRobert Fighter-Sir Iain<\/em>\u201d) is faithfully depicted by Arma Hobby in one of the decal options for their award-winning 1\/48 scale kit.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The story of a mother and three sons<\/h2>\n

When constructing model aircraft kits, the experience can be even further enriched by knowing about the incredible human story attached to it. Sir Iain<\/em> was named in memory of Lady MacRobert\u2019s youngest son, Pilot Officer Sir Iain Workman MacRobert, who flew RAF Air-Sea Rescue missions over the North Sea with Coastal Command.[2] After Iain\u2019s Bristol Blenheim failed to return on 30 June 1941, she knew she had nothing left to lose and everything to give. If her gifts could help boost the chances of an Allied victory and spare other mothers the soul-wrenching pain she had gone through herself, she would consider them to be worth every single penny.<\/p>\n

In 1938, the eldest son and second Baronet, Sir Alasdair Workman MacRobert, had been killed aged 26 in a civil flying accident at Luton aerodrome, just two days after returning from India in his private aircraft[3]. That same year, Sir Roderic Alan Workman MacRobert \u2013 the middle brother \u2013 joined the RAF as a reservist, before later being posted to the Middle East as a Hurricane pilot during the Second World War. Amid the Battle of Habbaniya in the spring of 1941, the 25-year-old Flight Lieutenant had been tasked with attacking Mosul airfield, an ex-RAF base which had been stealthily taken over by Heinkel He 111s and Messerschmitt Bf 110 Zerst\u00f6rer (‘Destroyers’) of the German Luftwaffe[4]. During this daring low-level attack on 22 May, Roderic had succeeded in destroying one aircraft at Mosul and was last spotted diving among the dispersed aircraft; his body was recovered and later buried in the British cemetery at Mosul.[5]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lady Mac Robert with her three sons: Alasdair, Roderick and Iain. Photo: Findagrave.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, the only brother whose veins still pulsed with fiery MacRobert blood was Iain. Assigned the perilous yet imperative task of locating downed RAF airmen in the choppy North Sea, the 24-year-old set out from RAF Thornaby in North Yorkshire on 30 June 1941 to find an Allied aircrew that were reported as desperately clinging onto their dinghy.[6] Tragically, the rescuer could not be rescued: roughly a month after his brother Roderic had been killed, Iain went missing on the rescue sortie, his body never to be found. Lady MacRobert\u2019s chest ached in anguish at losing her third and final son, although she admitted that \u2018I can only hope that my youngest son may yet return.\u2019[7] As a passionate feminist, she lamented the British frontline ban on female fighter pilots: \u2018I cannot go and be a pilot myself,\u2019 she expressed regretfully. \u2018Had I been a man I, too, would have flown on such service.\u2019[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

Stirling Bomber…<\/h2>\n

Having graduated with an honours degree in Chemistry and Geology from the University of Edinburgh \u2013 and being one of the first three women to be appointed Fellows of the Geological Society of London \u2013 Lady MacRobert possessed a sharp intellect and an indomitable will.[9] She once remarked that \u2018we are never finished. The MacRoberts always fight on.\u2019[10] Thus, after Iain went missing, Lady MacRobert felt compelled to do battle through the most effective means available to her: opening a chequebook. Her first gift of \u00a325,000 to the British Air Ministry was subsequently earmarked to buy one Short Stirling, a four-engined heavy bomber. She requested that it would bear the name \u2018MacRobert\u2019s Reply<\/em>\u2019, as \u2018it is my wish to make a mother\u2019s immediate reply in the way that I know would also be my boys\u2019 reply \u2013 attacking, striking sharply, straight to the mark.\u2019[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Short Stirling ‘MacRobert’s Reply’ and its crew. Photo: Imperial War Museum\/Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n

She spoke of her belief that her boys \u2018would be glad that their mother replied for them and helped to strike a blow at the enemy\u2019[12] and that \u2018nothing will be worthwhile if this vile enemy is not beaten. Although they killed one of the sons in Iraq, I want them to know they cannot kill the fighting spirit exemplified by the MacRobert brothers.\u2019[13] In a letter to Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Secretary of State for Air, she suggested that the bomber may \u2018carry the MacRobert crest \u2013 two fronds of bracken, with hands grasping an Eastern Crown, or simply our badge \u2013 a frond of bracken and an Indian rose crossed. Let it be used where it is most needed. May good fortune go with those who fly it.\u2019[14] The family crest that was suggested bore the Latin motto of the MacRobert clan: Virtutis gloria merces <\/em>(\u2018Glory is the Reward of Valour\u2019).[15]<\/p>\n\n\t\t