and as the T11 had not come along yet, it was a case of read the Pilot's Notes, climb in and off you go.
With the mixture of T11s an FB5s in later years one would do their dual and initial solo on the T11. When the time came for the first solo on the single seat the pilot would sit in the cockpit and a half dozen airmen would slump over the booms and drop the tail until the bumpers were just clear of the ground. The pilot then would have an idea of what the landing attitude was.
The same technique was used after wet start. The aircraft was tipped up so the fuel would drain out of the jet pipe. Then, not always, the aircraft would be pushed clear of the pool of fuel and another start attempt would be made, normally with a fresh trollyacc and an asbestos blanket draped over the horizontal tailplane. This would be done with one eye on the JPT guage and the other on the rear view mirror to see how hot and more importantly, how big the flame.
Because the Meteor's hood flipped over to starboard we always started No2 engine first. This was in case you had a dud trolleyacc and the engine caught fire. The hood then shielded you from the conflagration as you vaulted out of the cockpit. We started No3 first on the Valiant for the same reason.