James Warner (aviator)
Encyclopedia
Southern Cross (aircraft)
Southern Cross is the name of the Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane which in 1928 was flown by Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew in the first ever trans-Pacific flight, from the mainland United States to Australia, about ....
piloted by Sir Charles Kingsford Smith for the first trans-Pacific flight in 1928, during which radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
was first used successfully on a long distance flight.
Early life
Warner was born near Lawrence, KansasLawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...
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
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
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 in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
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 to Wichita where he found work in a butcher
Butcher
A butcher is a person who may slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat or any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat, poultry, fish and shellfish for sale in retail or wholesale food establishments...
shop, refusing his adopted father's pleas to return home. After learning from someone how to make harness
Harness
A harness is a looped restraint or support. It can also be referred to as an "hitcharness", especially by the Jordanian Armed Forces. Specifically, it may refer to one of the following harness types:* Bondage harness* Child harness* Climbing harness...
dressing with lard
Lard
Lard is pig fat in both its rendered and unrendered forms. Lard was commonly used in many cuisines as a cooking fat or shortening, or as a spread similar to butter. Its use in contemporary cuisine has diminished because of health concerns posed by its saturated-fat content and its often negative...
and lamp black, the teenaged Warner saved enough to buy a donkey
Donkey
The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...
and cart, from which he sold the dressing, meanwhile making his way to Denver, 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
Hobo
A hobo is a term which is often applied to a migratory worker or homeless vagabond, often penniless. The term originated in the Western—probably Northwestern—United States during the last decade of the 19th century. Unlike 'tramps', who work only when they are forced to, and 'bums', who do not...
during his late teens, which was fairly common in early 20th century North America, riding the rails and living in hobo encampments.
Naval service
In 1911 at about age twenty Warner went to Denver and enlisted in the US Navy. He spent boot camp at Goat Island (later called Yerba Buena IslandYerba Buena Island
Yerba Buena Island sits in the San Francisco Bay between San Francisco and Oakland, California. The Yerba Buena Tunnel runs through its center and connects the western and eastern spans of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It has had several other names over the decades: Sea Bird Island, Wood...
) in San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. Warner was then sent to the western Pacific and on to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
where he served on gunboats patrolling the Yangtze River
Yangtze River
The Yangtze, Yangzi or Cháng Jiāng is the longest river in Asia, and the third-longest in the world. It flows for from the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai eastward across southwest, central and eastern China before emptying into the East China Sea at Shanghai. It is also one of the...
. He advanced to Quartermaster
Quartermaster
Quartermaster refers to two different military occupations depending on if the assigned unit is land based or naval.In land armies, especially US units, it is a term referring to either an individual soldier or a unit who specializes in distributing supplies and provisions to troops. The senior...
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. During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Warner served on the USS Parker
USS Parker (DD-48)
USS Parker was an built for the United States Navy prior to the American entry into World War I. The ship was the first U.S. Navy vessel named in honor of Foxhall A. Parker, a U.S...
, which patrolled the coasts of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
. He was then assigned to the USS St. Louis
USS St. Louis (C-20)
The fourth USS St. Louis, Cruiser No. 20 ', was the lead ship of her class of protected cruisers in the United States Navy. St. Louis was launched on 6 May 1905 by Neafie & Levy Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; sponsored by Miss Gladys Bryant Smith; and commissioned on 18 August 1906, Captain...
. 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 in San Diego and commanded the compass station at Point Reyes
Point Reyes
Point Reyes is a prominent cape on the Pacific coast of northern California. It is located in Marin County approximately WNW of San Francisco. The term is often applied to the Point Reyes Peninsula, the region bounded by Tomales Bay on the northeast and Bolinas Lagoon on the southeast...
in Northern California
Northern California
Northern California is the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. The San Francisco Bay Area , and Sacramento as well as its metropolitan area are the main population centers...
. On 30 March 1928 Warner left the navy in San Francisco.
Southern Cross
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
. 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 from Oakland, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in the Southern Cross
Southern Cross (aircraft)
Southern Cross is the name of the Fokker F.VIIb/3m trimotor monoplane which in 1928 was flown by Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew in the first ever trans-Pacific flight, from the mainland United States to Australia, about ....
. After a stop for rest and refueling in Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
they flew to Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, enduring over 34 hours of flight across open sea before touching down at Albert Park in Suva
Suva
Suva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
, where a large and enthusiastic crowd greeted the first aircraft ever to land in Fiji. The Southern Cross landed at Eagle Farm Airport
Eagle Farm, Queensland
Eagle Farm is a largely industrial suburb of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia, situated around six kilometres from the Brisbane central business district. It is the former site of Eagle Farm Airport, Brisbane's main airport until the opening of the Brisbane Airport. Eagle Farm was also the site of...
in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
on 9 June before a crowd of 25,000 people. 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, Warner and Lyon each was given a 4 oz gold commemorative medal along with $10,000 from the citizens of Oakland and William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst
William Randolph Hearst was an American business magnate and leading newspaper publisher. Hearst entered the publishing business in 1887, after taking control of The San Francisco Examiner from his father...
. Warner then bought two airplanes and started training for a flight to Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. 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
San Mateo, California
San Mateo is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of approximately 100,000 , it is one of the larger suburbs on the San Francisco Peninsula, located between Burlingame to the north, Foster City to the east, Belmont to the south,...
and San Francisco bay. Warner's flight to Japan never got beyond planning.
Later career
In about 1930 Warner went to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
where he opened a radio shop. He hired an engineer and the two designed and manufactured a superheterodyne kit which could be installed in the era's heterodyne radio receivers. He also experimented with building an electronic organ
Electronic organ
An electronic organ is an electronic keyboard instrument which was derived from the harmonium, pipe organ and theatre organ. Originally, it was designed to imitate the sound of pipe organs, theatre organs, band sounds, or orchestral sounds....
and was hired by Hearst to install a sound system at San Simeon
Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of California, United States. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan between 1919 and 1947 for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who died in 1951. In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to...
in Northern California. Later during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1930s Warner moved to Fresno and worked for a water softener business, traveling in California’s Central Valley. He met his future wife in Highway City north of Fresno, where she owned a roadside diner
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
.
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 to College Station, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in March 1943, where he taught radio at Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
until the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.