Golden age is the time between WW1 and WW2 when aircraft had just become the super cool hi-tech industry to be in so 1000 new companies with 10000 new designs came out in those years. The planes were as much art as machine, so they have quite a few fans.

As for a plane to transition you into warbirds, I had a Ryan PT-20 a few years ago that was a nice forgiving flyer. It was a golden age recreational plane originally called the STA (some kits will be labeled that) that the USAAC bought for primary training as WWII got started. I did a little searching and could only find ARF's except for an expensive version from kitcutters. For a easy to find kit that will let you work on building skills and get you ready for low wing warbirds, the Sig 4 star and the Goldberg Tiger II are very nice sport planes that have been built by the thousands. There are numerous build threads here on RCU for both so help is plentiful.