RE: easystar pilot wanting to branch off in p-51 direction
Hi Chemdragon,
I actually got a GWS Tigermoth 400 as my second plane for most of the reasons you are talking about. I wanted to work my way towards WWII warbirds, and for a whole lot of reasons the Tigermoth appealed as a step on the journey.
The moth is a great plane. Flys well on brushed power with either 2s or 3s. Looks the goods in the air. Nice gentle, slow flyer. However, with some work she can be made to do mild aerobatics. And WWII pilots trained on them before flying the spits and the hurricanes ;-)
The Beaver and estarter are other reasonable options.
By the way, someone mentioned the difficulty of handlaunching - fair points. If you can avoid hand launching entirely. Rolling takeoffs are the safest option by a long way.
Cheers,
Oz.