I want to ask you a serious question about your assertions. You said twice "smokeless". The plane went down shortly after dark. The smoke trail would have cleared well before dawn when someone would have been able to see it clearly, correct? With the explosion as big as it was, and the debris field covering as large an area as it was, is it possible that they mistook an upwards smoke trail for a debris trail downwards?
I'm NOT a pilot, NOT an investigator and have NO experience with these things. But, I am a logical person, and when you have three interviews within 2 hours of the plane going down from 15 miles away from each other and three different people looking at it from three different angles all say they saw something going up and then an explosion and then all three of them recant their television interviews within a few days after spending time with the FBI, doesn't something strike YOU as suspicious??
Paul
That's not true. It was dusk and still light enough for people to observe an airliner over 10 miles away.
"The smoke trail would have cleared well before dawn when someone would have been able to see it clearly, correct?"
The smoke trail would have been immediately present from any missile traveling toward TWA 800. It would have been incredibly obvious at the time of the incident. So obvious that anyone observing the incident could not have failed to see it. If it existed.
"With the explosion as big as it was, and the debris field covering as large an area as it was, is it possible that they mistook an upwards smoke trail for a debris trail downwards?"
Yes. However, almost nobody mentions a smoke trail at all. Up or down.
"But, I am a logical person"
So am I. And logically, if three people really did say such a thing that was recorded on television, and then recanted what they said later, I'm sure there would be plenty of records including video of everything they said. Do you know where that video might be?