Thanks for the comments, Jester. I agree that what I did is not the best path for most people. Especially for someone whose motivation is to fly a big warbird.

What I felt I learned from teaching myself is that bigger is not always better, smaller planes have some advantages, and the main thing is for the student to start having fun pretty quickly, which I did, right away. It really kept the motivation up. Maybe a good way would be a short intro on a buddy box, start flying solo on a light electric, then back to the buddy box for a hotter plane, more advanced methods. Or maybe just get really good with the small, light plane, then get more advanced with some coaching. I'd like to go back to learning again from a good pattern flyer.

How did I have fun with a simple plane for three years? Well, at first it felt like a real victory just to get in some short flights in calm weather and come home with my plane intact. Then I figured out that I should be able to fly my light, low powered airplane in the wind by doing S turns toward the wind like the slope soarers do. I was pretty excited to find I could do it on windy days with dark clouds overhead. Then I started practicing landings while I still had no elevator servo. I discovered that by bringing the plane in on a bit of a curve and then slowly reversing the rudder I could bring the nose up for a flare. Fun, especially when I got so I could practically land at my feet! The nose would be down coming in, then gently start to rise close to the ground; this was in a glide, so it was quiet. Very pretty. I would send the plane upwind out over the lake and then when the engine stopped, a long circling glide as the wind brought the plane back.Then I switched my throttle servo to start working the elevator with the engine full bore the whole flight, which was only 2 or 3 minutes long. Then I finally bought another servo and had three channels. Once I got a 25 minute flight soaring the little plane with a flock of buzzards.

Also, the plane was all-wood and I built it myself, which added to the enjoyment. I built the radio from an Ace kit. You might wonder why it took me so long to get a third servo, but a mini servo was $35 dollars back then, and that's a lot in today's money.

I fly much more capable airplanes now, but I can't say I'm having more fun now than I did then.

Jim