[RandyArizona]

Herb.
Hope you are doing well.
That is exactly the way it worked on my 76 "G" model.
The handle moves to "UP", starting the sequence.
The powerpack operates, the doors open, building up pressure, to start the gear legs to move. The squat switch still shows "ON GROUND". (either by strut not extended, or wiring not made, etc.
The airplane, when on jacks, kind of does a "twang", but the motor keeps running until the breaker pops, or something worse.
Put the gear handle back down: The pressure is already up, so the door sequence starts to close them.. they close, pump pressure builds up, kicks the motor off. LIke normal.
Oddly enough, I had this EXACT thing happen.. the strut was stiff, cold, whatever, and on jacks would not extend, making the retraction not work.
A head scratcher at the time..

In the service manual, page 5-78 (rev. 6), it gives a quick explanation about the door valves, and the gear valves. The pump motor is on a seperate CB from the gear handle. The solenoids, both gear and doors, are set up for pressure, to make the
gear retraction / extention work.
I'm not sure how the early ones worked, exactly, never dealt with one.