The Provost T1 I did my basic training on had a Coffman starter. When you walked out the magazine would be on the starboard wing root. You starting airman would, or would supervise you, placing it in the starter. Then one would close the cowl and continue the walkround.
The starting procedure, after ensuring the fuel cock was open, was to wrap your left arm around the control stick to keep the elevators up with the hand on the central, instructor's, throttle. The right hand would be down on the starter lever with the thumb on the priming button.
About an inch with the throttle and between two and five seconds on the primer depending on how cold the engine was. Pull up the lever which would fire the cartridge and then there would be a few seconds juggling the throttle and primer until the engine settled down at about 1,200 rpm.
Wait for it to warm up; throttle back to idle, a quick mag. check and chocks away.
U/T pilots could do this with less then ten hours total. Where's the drama? Even the Chipmunk had a wire operated Coffman starter.