Originally Posted by 2walla

Keep flying your trainer untill you can really fly it. I am talking figure 8 touch and goes in both directions- Landing both upwind and downwind alternating passes. Spot landings, learning to use the rudder, flying in 15-20 mph winds... Get so you can put the plane where you want it 100% of the time and make it really do what you want.
99 percent of flyers move on before they can really fly the airplane They can just get it up and down without breaking it. Dont get bogged down with what you are flying. Chances are you are not flying anywhere near the limits of the airframe you have. I would buy an arf kaos from tower hobbies for a second plane if you have truly mastered flying what you have. Cheap and flies great.
Can you do a rolling circle with your trainer? I bet it will do it. Can you make it do it?

Originally Posted by jester_s1

I see some good and bad advice in this thread, at least from what my experience in the hobby tells me. First, any of the planes you listed will serve nicely as an aerobatic trainer and later as a general purpose sport plane. Every single one of us who have been in this hobby have an Old Reliable around, some easy flying sport type plane that tolerates wind well and can do all the goofy maneuvers we can think of. The Ugly Stick is, IMO, the quintessential Old Reliable, but the 4 Star and Tiger II are very close behind it. You're being smart to check out a low wing tail dragger sport plane as your second bird as it will get you used to the look and handling of a low wing plane and the takeoff and landing characteristics of taildraggers.

I disagree that a person should stay on the trainer until they've reached the limits of what the airframe can do. Trainers, with their self-righting characteristics, fight the pilot who is doing maneuvers that aren't putting around in upright circles. Staying on one too long will slow your progress as a pilot and will frustrate you. I actually recommend new pilots get off of the trainer ASAP for most of the same reasons I want my daughter to get brave enough to take the training wheels off of her bike. They are great for beginners to prevent failures, but they only annoy you once you are at the point you don't need them anymore. When you get your sport plane in the air and trimmed properly, you'll likely experience an instant 50% improvement in your piloting skills due to having a plane that does what you tell it to versus a plane that actively resists doing anything but flying straight and level.

The new piece of information I'll add to this thread, alluded to a couple of times already by da rock, is that there are varying degrees of difficulty in warbird type planes. Even one warbird versus another changes the degree of difficulty. The Hangar 9 series was designed to be lightly loaded and with airfoil and tail size decisions made to make them docile and forgiving. Of the Hangar 9 planes, the P47 is the most beginner friendly. Another option is the various military trainers- the PT20, PT19, and the T28 Trojan are all a bit calmer than the others. The difficult flying warbirds are the ones built to true scale specs, with the tail surface sizes exactly right and the airfoils at least close to the original. Add in the weight of scale detailing and you get a plane that is very unforgiving of bad piloting.

For your path to flying warbirds, take your pick of the planes you mentioned, preferably one that a buddy in the club already has so he can give you setup and trimming tips. Fly it for a few months until you are comfortable with it, then get a H9 P47, P40, or Mustang. You'll do just fine.