RE: learning without an instructor
Who taught Walt Good:
He taught himself... It wasn't always pretty either.
His initial R/C aircraft were essentially Free Flight designs with small control surface to allow the plane to be guided slightly. The Radio equipment was expected to fail, so the plane was designed to be able to stay in the air with worst case stuck controls. Even that didn't help every time, he broke a bunch of models.
Its kind of like asking who taught Sikorski to fly a helicopter. Read up on how he taught himself. If it was filmed and shown today... Amercias Funniest Videos would want it.