At the risk of sounding like a broken record don't go a warbird for your first. Spend some time on FMS with planes like the supercub, easystar, estarter, GWS Tigermoth 400.

While rc car drivers often have better orientation and stick finesse than beginners there are still some pretty important differences. For example, you can't just *stop* flying the way you can stop driving. And your RC cars have built plenty of neural pathways about how to deal with an impending walls/curb/etc, but they haven't taught you how to respond to your bird being banked perpendicular to the ground at 5 metres altitude and gradually noseing in.

I've written up a "course" for beginner flyers. You could probably breeze through the first bit reasonably quickly. Have a play with some of the models in FMS (keeping in mind real planes don't fly exactly like that) nor can FMS inspire fear and panic the way the real thing can (which is a great thing in some ways - you can learn the right thing to do without so much pressure - when you are under pressure if you are well drilled you will do the right thing).

http://www.oz********.com/2007/03/le...ers-guide.html

Anyway, whatever you decide to do, good luck with it.

Cheers,
Oz.