GTE, the paper bears out the practice nicely. I last flew one in 1987, so not sure what happened later, but it wasn't a local procedure, as far as I recall.
Bearing in mind that by that stage we were 'spin/aeros' checked and were familiar with sensing stall bounderies (without a warning buzzing away in your ear: disabled) I'm fairly sure now that we were taught to 'nibble the buffet'. Not all students were taught and it wasn't in our syllabus, but certainly the QFIs were expected to remain current.
I imagine the problem it forcing yourself to fly fast enough with the ground rushing up. Should brief what parts of the airfield or surroundings are landable, just because you took off from a paved runway doesn't mean you have to struggle to get back there
Quite, one of the reasons for going to instruments for the first half of the turn a) minimise height loss by flying accurately b) minimise risk of stalling!
The intent was not purely to get to the runway, and it would not be contemplated if there were decent areas beyond on which to force land (as there were from some runways.)