Towerhobbies.com is a great place to order online. I would suggest you research your local flying clubs then visit a couple of them and meet some of the members and instructors.

As for which plane to start with, that would be a trainer, there are several models that are very popular.
SIG LT-40
HOBBICO Superstar
HOBBICO Avistar

I started on a Superstar that I bought from Tower, it was a great plane and took plenty of abuse.

If you do a search on any of the above listed trainers on this forum, you will get a plethora of results back. I suggest running a search on each one to get an idea of which might be better for you. They are all about the same with the exception of the Avistar. The Avistar has a semi-symetrical wing and will do a little more than most of the flat bottom winged trainers.


Dbow