Tuc,
I don't disagree with any of your points. But I still content that the failures in corporate memory and the lack of value we place in experience, qualifications and good old fashioned filing left future generations at MoD poorly equipped to do their jobs. Add in the continual lack of cash to fund research meant that were very few opportunities to plug the gap. But there were opportunities and these were squandered with little or no accountability.
The unfortunate sqn ldr who spent over a year stitching together six decades of fuel tank research from archives all over the UK did it as an untasked, unfunded personal effort to put the 8000 pages of evidence over what we knew and when into the coroners hands. The house of cards that was the MoD's position simply collapsed. Very painful times for the sqn ldr, but the truth had to come out. I've no idea why the BoI president sat on this evidence for so long.
You are correct that a number of senior officers appeared to lie on oath. I also believe that these officers had a very poor appreciation of the facts and lied more to cover their inadequacy and poor performance in their previous roles rather than any directed conspiracy. Quite simply some of them did not give a sh*t and openly expressed their lack of concern for the crews ahead of the shoot down. The 'cannot remember anything' excuse became commonplace when the special investigator started his interviews.
Still, some very good men told the truth and that is what mattered in the end.