James Warner

James Warner (1891–1970) was the radio operator on the aircraft Southern Cross piloted by Charles Kingsford Smith for the first trans-Pacific flight in 1928, during which radio 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 in Germany 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 shop, refusing his adopted father's pleas to return home. After learning from someone how to make harness dressing with lard and lamp black, the teenaged Warner saved enough to buy a donkey 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 he reportedly milked 50 cows twice a day and 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 encampments.