True, but this is a report from pilots who for a few minutes watched the aircraft, from above, in the comparative confusion of combat--no, not a dogfight, but still a stressful situation. What did they see and not see in those few minutes?
On the other hand, we have people in Normandy who for some years said, "Yes, we could see the wheels sticking up out of the mud at low tide." Hard to mistake wheels for anything else. I can understand the gear falling into an extended position somehow from a right-side-up airplane, but not from an inverted one.
I go with the locals.