I have not flown regularly for a few years but when did the rules changed about joining downwind? I have learnt in my flying training that you always fly three legs of the circuit over an uncontrolled aerodrome. A large aircraft like the Connie would operationally require the longest runway available provided the crosswind component is within limits. If i was in a bugsmasher using the cross runway i would simply get out of the way.
The golden rule of aviation is "Aviate,Navigate,Communicate"
In a CTAF for me it is "Communicate, Aviate, Navigate"
