JD-EE
That is what troubles me with the simple scenario of pitch to a fatal point and actually slide down backwards at least part of the way. Wouldn't that put the candles out? And isn't a tail down stall recoverable using the elevators? Maybe they were in the middle of recovery when they hit?
I have never lost an engine during tail slides in multiple types of aircraft. Only once had a compressor stall going to full AB during a high AOA scissors at FL290, and that quickly cleared. So tail slide does not necessarily mean flameout or stall.