The minimum wage in 1953 was $.75 per hour. A prospective pilot would have to work 16 hours to pay for one hour of flight time not considering taxes which vary per person depending on marital status, filing with deductions or not, etc. The Federal Minimum Wage in 2016 is $7.25 per hour but certain states have higher minimum wages. At $7.25 per hour times the 16 hours from 1953 would be $116.00 per hour which is considerably lower than the figure I've heard from a young friend struggling to build up his flight hours at Opa-locka Executive Airport.