The answer to the radio compass question is easy:
1) You may have had a radio compass, but not all of us were that well off - if we had ADF installed, it would probably be only a be single unit as the installed equipment weighed 40 or 50 lbs or more and cost like hell.
2) Radio compasses were notoriously unreliable, particularly the servo which drove the loop of the ADF
3) ADF's were extremely unreliable in precip static anyway, particularly in snow or ice crystal conditions
There is the famous story of the legendary B-N Islander ferry pilot, Bob Iba, letting down into Narssarssuaq in heavy snow conditions, after finally convincing himself he had watched a station passage when the needle swung, low on fuel. As he descended inbound the IAS started to decay, so he added power, which resulted in less speed, added more power and less speed still, until the ASI was indicating zero with full power banging away. So he opened the cockpit door and looked down, only to discover he was sitting on the ice cap making a lot of unecessary noise! Luckily a Greenlandair helicopter picked him up quickly.
Memory fails me on the question of knowing which way to turn when you finally intercepted a range leg during a lost orientation, but I'm fairly certain it was not ambiguous.
Pigboat, although much younger than me, probably has the answer.
Even into the late '60's the four course range was a reliable back up because the only equipment required was a simple LF receiver.