Van Nuys Airport

I did my single-engine flight training at Van Nuys Airport in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. At the time, it was the busiest non-commercial airport in the world. Two parallel runways,  full time control tower.  On top of that, it is directly under the final approach for the commercial jets arriving at Burbank airport, five miles further east. .  Learning to fly at Van Nuys was an intense experience because it was busy pretty much from dawn to dusk.

I soloed in a Cessna 150, but got many of my hours, up to and after I got my single-engine license, in a citabria taildragger.  I learned aerobatics and became proficient doing loops, aileron rolls, snap rolls, wingovers, and such. 

Bellanca Citabria

Citabria cockpit

It was a very basic brand of no flap, stick and rudder flying. It was a lot of fun.

The Citabria I flew most of the time had the call sign - 36336 - painted on its tail just behind a retro, Army Air Corps ensignia. 

Me with 36336

Once I was more or less competent at taildragger flying, I was eager to learn more.  The next step was an instrument rating and a commercial pilot's license. I'll save that story for another day.