Yes and no on still having my first RC airplane.

In 1967 when I was 13, I built a Sterling Mambo with a Cox 15 Sportsman, Bonner SN escapement and a Ace receiver kit that I built that was designed by Phil Kraft. But I didn't yet have a transmitter, so my dad talked me into test flying the airplane as a free flight. We went out behind the house and launched it, and it flew a terrifying flight of stalls and recoveries for three or four minutes over a empty field. Dad advised me to shim the rear of the wing slightly, and the second flight was another 3 or 4 minutes of flight at about 20 feet of altitude. At that point, I called it good, and the Mambo never took to the air again. I still have it all these years later.

Later in 1969 I started construction of a Falcon 56, and finished the next summer. Silk and dope takes time when you have to avoid ticking off your mother, so you wait till it's warmer and it can be done in the garage with the door open. This one had a carefully broke in OS .19, and was equipped with an 4 channel Orbit proportional with three servos on rudder, elevator, and throttle.
My entire flight training was three flights at the Beech field in Wichita, 300 miles from home.

Fortunately, RCM wrote quite a number of very good articles on learning to fly, plus I had flown CL models for a solid 5 years prior to my RC lesson. With the Falcon trimmed out, I flew it around and landed it myself on the first flight. I did the take-off on the second flight, with my instructor landing it, and the third flight was completely solo. The Falcon survived for about 70 flights, upgraded with ailerons and a bigger motor, until it suffered a wing failure due to a ST G21-35 combat motor that didn't idle too well with a Kavan carburetor, and additional up elevator (moved the clevis up a hole) to try to spin the Falcon. All these years later, I am building another Falcon 56, even have another Orbit radio to fly it with if I can get it working.