From the "Art of Wheelbuilding" by Gerd Schraner:

"Large flange hubs have gone out of fashion, being used today primarily on track racing bicycles for reasons of tradition. They are relics from an age when the quality of the (steel) spokes was very poor and when people tried anything and everything to reduce spoke breakage. Today they are only effective on wheels with 36 quad-crossed or 40 or 48 (tandems) triple-crossed spokes."