We used them precisely like that
Dirt and gravel strips and uneven terrain
Sorta slow to gain altitude but steady
I still know immediately when I hear radials overhead at nite in an instant
My dad was a maintenance chief in a bombardier training unit in New Mexico in WW2. He said they used those Beechs with little bomb bays installed. They’d drop concrete practice bombs filled with black powder. He said they were always fixing holes in the bellies of those planes when the trainees dropped them at too low attitudes. Apparently the noobs didn’t understand about inertia all that well. They thought the bombs would fall straight down and not follow the plane. Lol.