Richard Starks grew up in Woodford County, Kentucky. He attended the Midway High School and the University of Kentucky before enlisting in April 1941. After his enlistment, he was sent to Tulsa, Oklahoma for primary training, starting to fly the Fairchild PT-19. After ten weeks and about 60 flying hours, he and his classmates were sent to St. Angelo, Texas for their basic training. They flew on Vultee BT-13 and BT-15’s. After ten weeks and sixty more hours, they were sent to Brooks Field in San Antonio, Texas for their advance training.

After graduating from Flying School on 12 December 1941 and getting his pilot’s wings, Starks had two weeks leave and then had to report to San Francisco for shipment to the Philippines. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor changed the plans and Starks and his comrades stayed at Brooks Field, flew the observer planes and took the air observers up for their training.

In February 1942, Starks was sent to Tampa, Florida and assigned to the 97th Bomb Group and the 414th Bomb Squadron. He passed the test to fly the B-17 very quickly, was assigned an airplane, given a crew to train which he set out to form a cohesive unit. Starks and his crew were in Tampa six weeks before flying to Sarasota, Florida, for further training.

After six weeks at Sarasota they were ordered to the Middletown Air Depot in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where their plane, like the others, was completely overhauled to ready it for combat. During the two weeks they spent there, they made test flights, reporting problems that the ground crews could fix before the next trip. Starks and crew left Harrisburg with England as its ultimate destination. Due to bad weather they had to land at Mitchell Field, New York. The following day, it was raining hard and very foggy when they left Mitchell Field. The weather forced the flight to land, but no one field in the country could handle a force the size they were. The B-17s were allotted to different airfields and three planes, including Starks’ B-17E, landed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas that night. They flew the next day to McChord Field, near Lakewood, Washington, loaded bombs and ammunition and waited for attacks from the Japs on the West Coast that did not materialize. After a few days, they left for Mitchell Field, South Dakota, then, at the end of May 1942, they flew to Grenier Field, New Hampshire, the next stop on their way to England being Presque Isle, Maine.

From there they flew to Labrador on 26 June, half the crews landing at Goose Bay, the other half at Gander.

Starks flew from Gander with the others to Bluey West One in Greenland, then landed at Keflavik, Iceland, before heading for Prestwick, Scotland. Starks and the 414th flew from there to the base at Grafton Underwood, Northamptonshire, England.

Richard Starks and his crew were part of the first 8th Air Force heavy bomber raid on occupied Europe, to bomb the Rouen/Sotteville marshalling yards on 17 August 1942. On 19 August, the crew flew to Abbeville, France in support of the Allied landing in Dieppe. On the third mission staged by the 8th AF, on 21 August 1942 to shipyards in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, Starks piloted #41-9089 "Johnny Reb". Lagging behind the formation, it became easy prey for German Fw190s. A shell went through the right windscreen and the Co-Pilot, 2nd Lt Donald A. Walter, was killed instantly. The cockpit was wrecked, the top turret was blown out and Richard Starks was severely wounded, in the chest, an arm and legs, his hands badly burned. His mask had been knocked off and, lacking oxygen, barely conscious, Starks managed to call his Bombardier, Lt Ewart T. Sconiers on the radio. Coming to the cabin, Sconiers quickly sized up the situation. He put Starks' mask back on, pulled the body of the co-pilot from the seat and controls and took his place. Sconiers, who had tried to become a pilot, had washed out in primary training and had gone back to civilian life before joining again as a Bombardier. Now at the controls, the Bombardier noticed that two engines were losing power as he flew the stricken plane in sight of the coast of England. Struggling with the controls, trying to manage the gyrocompass and stabilize the air speed, advised by pilot Starks, Ewart Sconiers finally managed to bring the plane safely back, landing at Horsham St Faith. The story made the headlines all over the US as well as in the United Kingdom. Starks was taken to a British Hospital for a couple of days and then to an American Hospital.

Both Lt Starks and Ewart Sconiers were awarded the DSC (Distinguished Service Cross) in a ceremony at Polebrook airfield on 17 September 1942. A Pathe newsreel of the ceremony : https://www.britishpathe.com/video/us-air-heroes-decorated

Richard Starks had six surgeries in England over several months. Due to his condition, he was never able to pass the Combat Physical again and he was sent back to the United States. After his recovery, he served as an instructor at an Air Force school in Texas, where he trained B-17 pilots for combat. He was later an air inspector in Oklahoma and Iowa. After his discharge in 1945, he co-piloted DC-3s for Eastern Airlines for a year before returning to Midway to start farming. Appointed police judge in Midway, he won a term to that position and was the city’s last police judge to serve before the judicial system was reorganized. Richard Starks, widower of Hilda Marshall Starks, passed away in 2006.