Why would one mount components above the PCB?
The bent leads set the component height during wave solder. It does four things:

During wave soldering:


retains the component in the board with spring tension
limits the solder wicking to just the pad
provides thermal relief to improve soldering


After soldering:


provides extra lead length to reduce mechanical stress on the component.


The extra lead helps prevent cracking at the lead/component junction in high-vibration environments by spreading the flex over the lead, rather than concentrating flex at the component itself.