I suspect in the 70's at Barton the ratio of hairy arsed knows what they are doing occupants of the RHS to clueless idiots that couldn't find there backside without a mirror and a FMS was significantly different to today where the RHS may have only done 3-5 spins as part of their FIC.
Rofl!
The base would be at 45 degrees from the downwind leaving a 135 degree turn to final.
The 45/135 degree base/final turn is just a formalization of the old RAF constant aspect approach effectively allowing one to turn in early at any point along the way.
Am I missing something here? You do your base leg getting further away from the airfield all the time?