In this YouTube video, Kenny Keller pilots his Robinson R‑44 helicopter over central Indiana, showcasing a rare World War II‑era octagon‑shaped naval airfield near Converse. He narrates the history of the airfield—built as a satellite of Grissom AFB to let Navy pilots practice carrier‑style landings from any wind direction—and points out its remaining runway, hangars, and a small RC‑airplane field. While on site, Kenny talks with members of a local radio‑controlled (RC) flying club, learning about their activities and the community’s use of the field. The video also serves as a platform for Kenny to promote his online helicopter training courses (private, commercial, instrument, CFI), explain his business model of intensive one‑on‑one instruction, and share operational details of his R‑44: a Lycoming 540 engine, hourly operating costs (~$45‑$80/hr), overhaul interval (2200 hrs/≈12 years), and typical day‑rate ($950). He intersperses personal anecdotes about other abandoned WWII sites (e.g., Kingsbury ammunition plant) and repeatedly asks viewers to subscribe and comment with any knowledge about the octagon airports. The narrative blends historical curiosity, technical insight, community interaction, and promotional messaging.
Chapters
Wabash traffic, Helicopter one, Mike Brow is departing the main ramp to the West Wabash.
Hey, it's Kenny with helicopter on land ground school. We're flying down to a World War II airport. It was turned back over to this small town in Indiana in 1947 for the military. We're gonna fly over Mississinawa Reservoir that you see here. There's some old foundations in here from a town that they moved many years ago. Then we're heading down to the World War II era airport and then we're going to fly back over Salamoni Reservoir. Let us know down below if you know anything about these World War II airports. This is a pretty fascinating. So we're going to jump out, talk to some people from the local RC flying club. They were fun to talk to. We'll be back to see them again on a warmer day. Again, let us know if you know anything about these airports or these reservoirs. These are pretty interesting as well. There's old foundations and roads. You can see down there now that the water is low. Do us a favor, we're trying to get to 50,000 subscribers. Do us a favor, subscribe like the video and comment down below on the World War II airports if you know anything about it.
Just passed over this little town, Converse, Indiana and off our nose is a World War II naval airport built in the shape of an octagon. So this was many that were satellites off of the Grissom Air Force Base that's in over by Peru, Indiana. So these were built in World War II to have Navy pilots. They can come to this octagon shaped airport and land no matter what the direction of the wind was. They could practice landing, taking off into the wind. It's 1800ft across. So not only were the Navy pilots able to learn to land from any direction, it was also simulating landing off an aircraft carrier because they learned, of course, the ship turns into the wind and the length of this is 1800ft. Was it supposed to be part of the design of helping them learn to land on aircraft carriers? So it's really just kind of super unique. There's, I've heard both ways. I've heard there's none left, but then I've heard there's might be one or two left. But as far as I know this is the only one around here. The rest of them are all have been grown over. So it's got1 Runway 725 is the Runway. So there is an actual Runway here that was turned over to the town Of Converse in 1947, the military was done with it. So it is still owned by the city of Converse. So you can see the one Runway for airplanes. Us being a helicopter, we have the ability to land any direction. So there's a couple of hangar buildings. There's a small building that I believe must be used for rc. There's a little square here in the field that I think is for RC airplanes. They got some picnic tables and a little shed. So we will go down and take a look. Just pretty intriguing out here in the middle of nowhere, Indiana. This big octagon shape, ex World War II Airport.
Okay, well, tell us about that. Because I saw that, I'm like, well, look at that. Looks like they do RC airplanes as well. How often do you guys do that?
We're out here.
Are you 63?
Oh, that's pretty cool
for being out in the middle of nowhere, Indiana.
Yeah, Exactly.
There's probably 15 or 20 of us to fly all the time, you know.
Nice. Yeah, we have online courses for private commercial instrument and CFI, and I started that 14 years ago. And we really have the helicopter, to be honest. More of a. Well, so I can still get to fly. And it's, you know, it's a great big prop. Right. We use it for videos, we use it for instruction. And then we do help people that are struggling because they're trying to get their license somewhere, but either the flight school screwing them around, just taking their money, or their helicopter's broken, or they can't find an examiner. So we specialize in somebody who wants to just get done. They don't want anybody bullshitting them and wasting their time or wasting their money. They just want to come in. They just want to get certified and be done. And that's. That's what we do. And I've been on YouTube probably. I've been on YouTube for 15 years. And most of what we do is just normal, everyday kind of training stuff. And I'm like, I've been wanting to come down here for a couple months. And the day the sun was shining, and I go, all right, let's go.
Everybody's got spring fever now, right?
Absolutely. The sun's shining. It's up.
Till a few days ago, you wouldn't have been able to land.
Yeah, I was down here.
It was sure cool watching it come in. That was cool.
Yeah, I was wondering what you were gonna do. I get out here watching you going around. Yeah, we were. We were filming as we were coming in, and we'll. We'll film A little more when we leave because I couldn't quite see the Runway. I could see the Runway, but I couldn't see the numbers clear enough. So I'm going to go around again and maybe go up a little higher. We can get a better shot looking down on it because we're only flying about 500ft. So I might go up a little higher to get a better, you know. Oh, I'm sure I. I can imagine. I'll definitely have to go up a little higher and just. Just to see what it looks like
with the crops on in the summer. He's got this big open spot, you know, you can see it for a little ways out, right?
Yeah. Oh, I'm sure I'll be back. I'm just, I'm fascinated by it, you know. I don't know. I'm in anything that's not there anymore. Have you ever heard of Kingsbury up by Laporte? It's old World War II. It was an ammunitions plant. And there's buildings and railroad tracks and bunkers. Nobody knows it's there. And when you get up there, it's like. I don't know how many buildings there are, how many bunkers there are, but it's fascinating.
Like a time capsule, huh?
And nobody, nobody talks about it. Nobody knows the thing's even there. I came across it like 30 years ago when I was doing a towing service. I hadn't even. I wasn't even flying yet. And I just picked up a truck and I saw these weird looking things out in the field and I'm like, what in the hell are all them things out there in this field? And then I figured out they were bunkers and they're still there along with the buildings where they actually made the ammunition. There's numerous, numerous train tracks going to all the buildings.
Can we see inside?
Absolutely. That's how we keep it in trim, is when you're flying, you try to keep one string on one side and one string on the other. And that's how we keep our trim when we're going cross country so that it doesn't blow us off course. So as silly as it is, that's factory. It comes from the factory with these two little strings on it. Yeah, yeah. I have a 1970 yellow and black Oldsmobile 442 that I've had since 1982. So I'm partially yellow and black.
What power is this? What motors in this?
This is the Lycoming 540. Is that expensive? Take classes. Yeah. The aircraft's 750 an hour. And that's. I've had it two and a half. I'm going almost three years. And last year the math came out to. It cost me 600, like 45 an hour to operate it. The year before, it cost me 800 an hour because I had a overspeed where I had to do some engine work because I let the engine RPM get too high. So it's. Even though, I mean it sounds horrible at 7:50 an hour, I'm. I'm paying for it. And then I charge 950 a day. And I teach all day long. I don't do normal like flight school. You go there for an hour or two. When somebody comes here, if they need one day, two days, three days, I'm just, I'm one on one. I give them all the attention they need all day long until we got them done. Yep.
Yep.
All fresh in her head too.
Yeah.
How often do you have to redo all that up there?
These have. Every 2200 hours or 12 years, these have to be overhauled. So depends like at 2200 hours, they'll cut those blades. And you ship it either to the factory or a service center that can do all the work. So it gets a rebuilt engine, rebuilt gearbox, rebuilt trans or rebuilt trends or gearbox back there. Brand new rotor blades, brand new tail rotor blades, amongst a whole bunch of other things that, that gets replaced. So it. They come out almost like. I picked this up. It went through its first 2200 hours and it was coming out of overhaul. So I picked it up with like four hours on it. And so it's. It's a 2000, I think 15, but it feels like new. You know, when you climb in it, it's just, it's. Yeah.
If you come out towards the evening when it's a little nicer out, you'll catch probably five or six guys out here flying RC airplanes.
Okay, I'm sure I'll be back usually
all throughout the week and.
Hey, nice to meet you folks.
Yeah, nice meeting you. Thanks for coming out and talking to us. I appreciate it.
Nice to meet you girls. Have a good day.
You too.
Thank you for letting us look at this.
Yeah, thanks for coming over and just giving us a little. A little bit of info.
Come back, we'll put a radio in your hand.
All right. I promise I'll be back. See ya. I don't know how much of that you'll be able to use that. We just talked to some local people down here. We'll come back and do another video when it's a little nicer. Anyway, fascinating place. If you know something about one of these old Octagon airports or old Navy airports that were used for this training, let us know. Put it down below. Sa.
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