Frank,
What you have hit upon is what an old family friend of ours told me a couple years ago. Basicly there are 2 types of people interested in aviation, Airplane People (AP's) and People That Fly Airplanes (PFA's). AP's tend to be the Antique, Homebuilt, and Warbird Guys, PFA's tend to be the C172, Bonanza and other generic aluminum aircraft pilots. AP's tend to stick with the lifestyle ( its not a hobby to them ) throughout their lives, PFA's tend to come and go as if it were any other hobby like boating, motorcycles, stamp collecting etc. In years of poor economy, the AP's will still be there, however the PFA's tend to grow with disposable income. PFA's can become AP's, but rarely is the opposite true.