If the wings arrived on a backward-sliding plane that was upright, the wings must have flipped over to put the hydraulic housing pointing up. This could happen if the wings broke free of the aft fuselage and flipped over, but if that happened the leading edge would be pointing west. If the wings arrived on a backward-sliding plane that was inverted, the wings would look like they do now. But the vertical stabilizer would be toast, and instead it's nearly intact. QED the plane was not sliding backward.
Thanks, this and your other details understood, appreciate the clarification.
So am I understanding correctly that the plane would have had to spin around and head forward briefly in order to flip into its final orientation? If so, isn't this quite possible given the marshy ground (possible hydroplaning allowing it to spin around more easily), plus the multiple explosions noted by witnesses prior to the later tail explosion?