Thank you for your insightful post. Appreciate it.
The Eglin test was as expected, but my read of the report shows something different than your read.
According to my read of the report, most observers can see the launch plume but all lost sight post motor burn-out: “All observers reported that they were unable to see the body of the missile from any range.” (Page 254 of the report, http://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR0003.pdf)
Moreover, seeing the missile detonate was unobserved by witnesses. Footnote 530 says - “Not all observers reported observing the missile selfdestruct. For example, during the first launch, five of the six observers positioned within 6 nm of the launch site reported observing the missile selfdestruct. NONE of the observers positioned more than 6 nm from the launch site reported observing the missile selfdestruct.” (Same report, page 255)
Cheers.
I guess I remember the part about them seeing the plume. The rest is very telling isn’t it?
The NTSB report shows that the they took the possibility of a missile very seriously.