Yesterday Turner Classic Movies ran "Spirit of St. Louis" with Jimmy Stewart as Lindbergh. There's one scene where, as an air mail pilot, he starts the engine of his plane. He calls it an "old de Havilland," so I guess it's a DH-4. The plane in the movie looks like one. An assistant handles ignition and throttle while Stewart does the honors with the prop. He stands on the right of the nose, gets a running start, grabs a blade (which is at the 9 o'clock position) with his left hand, and gets about a half revolution before the film cuts to the other man and you hear (but do not see) the engine start.
I'm sure the studio insisted that the engine be put in an absolutely dead state when Stewart handled the prop. But back in the day, it must have been a hell of a job to start a Liberty by hand, if indeed they really did that. I doubt that a man with my small frame could do it at all.
Later in the movie you get to see a genuine hand start when Lindbergh sets off on the big flight. A mechanic gets the Wright Whirlwind going on the second try.
There's another nifty scene in the part where Lindbergh buys a Jenny. As he sits in the cockpit talking to the aircraft dealer, you can see the rocker arms jittering.