James Hardy Marks, (19 March 1918 – 20 September 1942) was an officer in the Royal Air Force. An early proponent of developing a target marking method, he was the commanding officer of 35 Squadron when it was selected as one of the five founding squadrons of the Pathfinder Force. He was considered by his contemporaries as one of the top aviators of his time. He was killed while returning from a raid against Saarbrücken when his Halifax was set afire from an attack from a German night fighter. Marks stayed at the controls to allow his crew to escape before his aircraft crashed near Blesme in northern France. Early life Marks was born in Tolleshunt D'Arcy on 19 March 1918. At the age of 2 his family moved to Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire, where he grew up. Marks attended Barnard School and proceeded to Newport Free Grammar School, where he was a standout in cricket and football. He graduated in 1936. By his late teens he had become a tall young man, with fair hair and an athletic build, who exuded a quiet authoritative presence. Following his graduation he obtained a pilot's license. In 1937 he joined the Royal Air Force. He made his first solo flight in April 1937, and completed pilot training at No. 10 Flying Training Unit at RAF Ternhill. On 24 May 1938 his crew was selected for an Empire Day display at Martlesham Heath. In January 1939 he was part of a flight that gave an air display to the top ranks of the service and a delegation from North Africa. Early bomber missions At the outset of the Second World War in September 1939, Marks was a bomber pilot with No. 102 Squadron, flying the two engine Whitley bomber. Marks flew with Leonard Cheshire at 102 Squadron. At the outset the squadron was tasked with the dropping of leaflets over Germany and the occupied countries, with many of its early missions going to Poland. On 1 November 1939 Marks and his squadron flew to RAF Dishforth, where it stood for inspection by Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, commander-in-chief of Fighter Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Cyril Newall, the Chief of the Air Staff, and King George VI. The pamphlet campaign continued through the end of the year, during a period known as the phony war. In 1939 102 Squadron was based at Driffield,