Back in the 50's it was rudder only. The plane was a somewhat controllable free flight.

The plane was launched and you controlled it. We were all self taught.

There was only only one channel/frequency 27.255 Mega Cycles (This was before they invented MHZ) People flew one plane at a time

Life must have been simple then? I built the transmitter and receiver from a ACE kit, used a Sterling airplane kit covered with silk and painted with dope, and Fox 15 engine.