awblain
Don't get me wrong, we are on the same wavelength. I am only pointing out a mechanism whereby the observed AOA restriction can be explained. Whether it made any difference is another matter. When you write:
Could either crew have honestly said "if only we'd had another 1.5 degrees, our finely planned and executed manouevre would have been a spectacular success."
my answer is no. It would have been possible to gain a little more height at the expense of speed if the AOA had followed the pilot's command without any restriction but keeping sidestick movement and timing and throttle movement and timing unchanged, the height gain at the back end would have been no more than half of that required for clearance. Let us remember that the RA height over the last few seconds was only 30 ft and the average tree height 39ft.