I learned to fly on the GWS pico cub. It flys about as fast as you can jog and goes together well. Since then I have placed the gws 300 size motor in it and made some slight modifications to the wing to handle the extra speed. I can almost hover the thing and it is still one of my favorite planes to just screw around at the park with. I have also crashed it like 20 times in my quest to learn to fly and it just keeps glueing back together.

I learned to fly with ailerons on the GWS E-starter. It is an awesome plane with great stable flying characteristics. It will teach a beginner how to do many of the manuevers that a real airplane can do and as long as you keep it very high (a good rule for any beginner) it will almost fly itself and give you time to think as you fly

I recomend lithium polymer batteries with any electric model as they increase flight time and power but decrease flying weight.

Last, I initially bought JR XF631 transmiter and I love it! It is a simple 6 channel computer radio with a three model memory and I paid around 120 just for the radio. I didn't need the servos and receiver that came with the radio because I fly parkflyers and need microservos and not the monster servos that come with the radio. However, the whole radio and flight pack package is around $199. Whats nice about this radio is that I can move up to more complicated models with retracts or lights and still have enough channels to control everything. The only problem with it is that it only has a three model memory and I have found as I become a better pilot, I keep buying more aircraft and have more than the radio has memory for. If you have the money then I would recomend the JR XP6102. It has a 10 model memory but is still easy to program and a beginner can learn to use the most important functions of this radio.

Hope that helps.