Blog
Local RC Club Honors WWII Veteran
By Andy Chandler
For The Paper
As the United States continues to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, a group of local radio control aerial enthusiasts continue to keep the memory of one local hero alive.
On a hot and windless day last Saturday, members of the Sugar Creek Remote Control Flying Club gather to name their airfield in honor of WWII pilot Lt. Comdr. Adrian Marks.
Lt. Commander (USN) Marks was born in Ladoga, in 1917. Graduating from IU with a degree in law, he married Kokomo native Elta Roll in 1941. He subsequently joined the Navy in 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he became an aviator. He is best known for piloting the plane that found the survivors of the USS Indianapolis after their ship was sunk by the Japanese while returning from delivering the atomic bomb to Tinian Island in 1945
Ignoring orders not to land due to high seas, Lt. Comdr. Marks landed and evacuated the critically injured, saving 56 lives. For this, he received the Air Medal from Admiral Chester Nimitz.
According to the club’s president, Gary Starnes, the naming the airfield after Lt. Cmdr. Marks was a fitting tribute and the club latch onto Lt. Comdr Marks’ story.
The club, made up of enthusiasts from around the region as far as Lebanon and Spencer, meets on a field east of Crawfordsville. The property, a field situated amongst the wild grass has been home to the club for the last five years.
On Saturday, with the honor guard from the American Legion Post 72 and nearly 30 people present, after a short speech by Mr. Starnes, the field was dedicated and will continue to be a gathering place for RC aviation enthusiasts.
Mr. Starnes stated that one of the desires of the club is to encourage more people come and see what they are about and would get interested in RC flying. “I don’t think a lot of people know we exist,” Mr. Starnes stated.
The club, which is a charter club of the Academy of Modeling Aeronautics, meets once every week on Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. People who have never flow can come and participate in a pilot/copilot plane where they can operate the controls under the watch of a member. They are located off of US 136, about a half mile west of Nucor Rd., with a sign visible on the south sideof the road. For more information, they are online at: