Ace Pilot wrote:

Were there any disadvantages with this procedure? How was knowledge of
this procedure disseminated? Thanks for the input, Ron.

One disadvantage is the fact that aircraft on the base leg of a reverse-direction
pattern can't be seen by high-wing aircraft waiting at the runway. Couple that with
a circling approach from 300' AGL, and you've got real problems. I was almost
nailed on my solo flight by some A**hole doing this in a Breezy. Fortunately, a
CFI flying the usual pattern with a student heard me announce departure and got
on the radio. I was halfway out on the runway before I got stopped, though. His
wheels were below the level of my instrument panel when he went by.

George Patterson
Love, n.: A form of temporary insanity afflicting the young. It is curable
either by marriage or by removal of the afflicted from the circumstances
under which he incurred the condition. It is sometimes fatal, but more
often to the physician than to the patient.