Yes - I was based at UEF (university engineering flight),Abingdon 1980 - 83 and we did running changes as the norm with cadet flying,it was a safe enough procedure with a chippie - its taildragger wing angle/distance of rear cockpit from prop and the prop wash itself virtually assured that nobody would fall fwd towards the prop.
And yes the cartridge start 'bang' used to wake people up
Most of our flying was done from our line huts well away from the main station buildings,normally just the first start of the day was on the apron outside 'B' Hangar.