I have many many hours in a T61 - to be sensible a second.....
Good points:
Two Seater
Simple Construction
Robust Gear (not the out riggers)
Simple Engine
No-brainer flying
Incrediably cheap to run
Bad points:
No-brainer flying
Uncomfortable if you are over 5ft6 and more than about 12 stone
Slow
Difficult to manoeuvre on the ground (under own power)
Outriggers not the best of things
Slow
Not great climb performance at MTOW
Poor glide performance
Cold
Slow (did i say it was slow?)
Painful handling when its really windy (need big arm muscles)
Slow
In summary i did an awful lot when i was learning as being a student, it was a very cheap pair of wings. As it is even now, if i just wanted something cheap for a quick potter around Sussex countryside (just keeping within rule 5) then its great if it doesn't cost much more than a round of drinks in the pub.
I've had lots of fun in one, and taken a few hosties from work in one for a cheap ride around. But I once took it to the PFA rally and it took me 2 DAYS (I'm not joking) to get there (across England). Plus the embarresment upon landing at Bembridge when the grass was un-usable. Having to hold all trafic in the circuit until i'd backtracked, switched off, got out, picked the tail up, turned it around, got back in, started up, taken off - not popular.
Unless you can fly one at cost, or you've been offered one very cheap and you only fly just locally outside the circuit on fair weather days, i say don't bother. Fly an RF4, or even better, an RF5.
... or a Piper Cub
FB