The problem with the exploding gas tank explanation is how do you explain all the witness testimonies about the missile trails?
Do they know exactly what a missile trail looks like? Do you? I don't.
Missile trails burn out well below 30,000 feet, and small missile (5’ long) make it impossible to see (flat color, no reflectivity—don’t want to make it easy to see while in combat), and the missile is a leading edge tracker and doesn’t have a proximity fuse, and doesn’t have the range to hit a receding target at that altitude (engagement zones are not circular/uniform and max altitude is around 17,000 feet), etc.
I’m outta here.