Frigatebird, regarding Aztec. A PPL guy I used to work with used to own an Aztec, was telling me that for a super-short takeoff roll he used to put the gear lever in the up position when in the takeoff roll and when he lifted off the wheels would come straight up and comparatively the aircraft leapt in the air.
One sad day he lifted too much weight off the nose during the early stage of the talked roll, the nose wheel retracted and he had an expensive bulk strip multiplied by two (at full noise of course) plus new props to wrap it up.
Supposedly it was the done thing for kicks in the Aztec going back a few years.