The wrinkling of the skin is consistent with the stress on the fuselage, whether the image is part of the failure sequence or not, imo. Downforce and displacement reduces the "area" of the substrate, and the skin, unable to "shrink", wrinkles instead.
I have consistently been impressed with the life cycle of the skin on these birds. It is flexible, and the frame is definitely flexible. This suggests fatigue, and added drag in the circuit. I think there are areas of the airframe that would perform far better wrapped in FRP. It has greater elasticity, and the weight penalty might payoff in better times.
Control would be better, the contour and drag would be more consistent, and airflow would be more predictable.
In the turns, (all left, of course), the drag of the left Trim Tab on the elevator (with the PITCH UP) would be an ad hoc spoiler, and bleeding some energy with an already "deployed" fence, is an elegant use of otherwise wasted drag. It would be interesting to know if these issues resulted in some additional strengthening in this control.
I have the picture that with trim defeated on the right, it is somewhat like driving an automobile with only one front wheel power assisted.