- James Warner (aviator)
James Warner (1891-1970) is noted as the radio operator on the aircraft "Southern Cross" piloted by
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith for the first trans-Pacific flight in 1928, during whichradio was first used successfully on a long distance flight.Early life
Warner was born near
Lawrence, Kansas in 1891. His parents divorced during his early childhood. His mother cared for his two sisters but their father took James and his two brothers to an orphanage in Wichita and left them there. At the age of five he was adopted by a German family named Oswald and spent most of the rest of his childhood living and working on their farm. He also spent about a year inGermany with his adopted family. James attended both local German and English language schools in Lawrence through eighth grade and reportedly made friends easily. At age fourteen he left home and went toWichita where he found work in abutcher shop, refusing his adopted father's pleas to return home. After learning from someone how to makeharness dressing withlard andlamp black , the teenaged Warner saved enough to buy adonkey and cart, from which he sold the dressing, meanwhile making his way toDenver , where he worked in a bowling alley setting pins.He later went to Boulder, Colorado and worked driving a team of horses with a road-grader. At about the age of eighteen he got a job on a dairy farm where by reportedly milking 50 cows twice a day he developed the large forearms he kept for the rest of his life. He bought a dairy route from the farmer, making daily deliveries. However, this ended when he and the dairy farmer had a dispute and Warner lost his substantial investment. Following this he may have spent time as a
hobo during his late teens, which was fairly common in early 20th century North America, riding the rails and living in hobo encampents.Naval service
In 1911 at about age twenty Warner went to Denver and enlisted in the
US Navy . He spentboot camp atGoat Island (later calledYerba Buena Island ) inSan Francisco Bay . Warner was then sent to the westernPacific and on toChina where he served on gunboats patrolling theYangtze River . He advanced toQuartermaster first class and in 1916 trained in the then-new rating of "Electricians Mate, Radio". By 1919 he was one of the first chief radiomen in the US Navy. DuringWorld War I Warner served on the USS Parker, which patrolled the coasts ofIreland . He was then assigned to the USS St. Louis. Warner may have also sometimes served as a German-English interpreter for naval officers after the war. He was later assigned as a radio instructor inSan Diego and commanded the compass station atPoint Reyes inNorthern California . On 30 March 1928 Warner left the navy in San Francisco."Southern Cross"
Through friends he learned Harry Lyon was thinking of going with
Sir Charles Kingsford Smith on a planned long distance flight from California, across thePacific Ocean . He tried to talk his friend Lyon out of the flight, but wound up on the crew. On 31 May 1928 the four person crew took off fromOakland ,California in the "Southern Cross". After a stop for rest and refueling inHawaii they flew toFiji , enduring over 34 hours of flight across open sea before touching down at Albert Park inSuva , where a large and enthusiastic crowd greeted the first aircraft ever to land in Fiji. [ [http://www.fiji.embassy.gov.au/suva/MR2003smith.html 30 May 2003 - 75th Anniversary of Smithy's Landing at Albert Park] ] The "Southern Cross" landed at Eagle Farm Airport inBrisbane ,Australia on 9 June [http://home.worldonline.nl/~lbb/smith.htm Famous Fokker Flights] ] before a crowd of 25,000 people. [ [http://www.ourbrisbane.com/living/suburbs/eagle_farm/history/ History of Eagle Farm (Our Brisbane)] ] [ [http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/PhotoSearchItemDetail.asp?M=0&B=11363463 Photo of "Southern Cross", and welcoming crowd, at Eagle Farm on June 9, 1928 (National Archives of Australia)] ] [ [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/16/1071336964936.html?from=storyrhs Magnificent Machines - Home-grown Legends (Sydney Morning Herald)] ] They flew to Sydney the following day.The flight of the "Southern Cross" marked the first successful use of radio on a long distance flight. Returning to California, each crew member was given a 4 oz gold commemorative medal along with $10,000 from the citizens of Oakland and
William Randolph Hearst . Warner then bought two airplanes and started training for a flight toJapan . However, during a crude in-air refueling whilst trying to set an endurance record, the pilot of the single engine craft fell asleep and landed upside-down in the mud flats near San Mateo and San Francisco bay. Warner's flight to Japan never got beyond planning.Later career
In about 1930 Warner went to
Los Angeles where he opened a radio shop. He hired an engineer and the two designed and manufactured asuperheterodyne kit which could be installed in the era's heterodyne radio receivers. He also experimented with building anelectronic organ and was hired by Hearst to install a sound system at San Simeon in Northern California. Later during theGreat Depression of the 1930s Warner moved to Fresno and worked for awater softener business, traveling in California’sCentral Valley . He met his future wife in Highway City north of Fresno, where she owned a roadsidediner .In August 1940 Warner was recalled into the navy and sent to Hawaii. In 1941 he was transferred to the Navy’s central receiving station in
Washington DC . Warner was then assigned toCollege Station ,Texas in March 1943, where he taught radio atTexas A&M University until the end ofWorld War II .References and notes
Bibliography
*"American Aviation Historical Society Journal", Volume 28 # 2 Summer 1983 pg140
*"American Aviation Historical Society Journal", Volume 24 # 4 Winter 1979 pg279, "Harry Lyon and The Southern Cross", Lloyd S. Gates
*"Great Aircraft and Their Pilots", New York Graphic Society, Roy Cross, 1971 pg70
*"Famous First Flights That Changed History", Doubleday 1968-Lowell Thomas & Lowell Thomas Jr. pg 184
*"Hidden Heroes", Wilmer Bros Limited, 1971 Trevor J. Constable Chapter 10
*"Jim Warner - Radioman", American Aviation Historical Society Journal, – Tom Warner
*"Milestones of Aviation", The Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, Crescent Books 1991, pg 59-61
*"Our Conquest of the Pacific" Kingsford-smith & Ulm, "The National Geographic Magazine", Oct, 1928
*"Smithy", A.S. Barnes & Co. 1971, Ward McNally
*"Smithy", Little Brown & Co. 1998, Ian Mackersey
*"Smithy, The World’s Greatest Aviator", Summit Books. 1977 Pedr Davis Pages 45-65
*"The Trans Pacific Flight", "Liberty Magazine", April 19, 1930, pg17 James W Warner
*"The Flight of The Southern Cross", The National Travel Club 1929, C.E.Kingsford–Smith & C.T.P. Ulm, chapter XX1
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