Gosh this makes me feel old. I remember standing in the bar at Seletar in 1967 chatting with a couple of Belvedere pilots who were bemoaning the fact that the initial order for Chinooks for the RAF had been cancelled. At this time of course they were already very active in Vietnam. Thank goodness that decision was eventually rescinded.
Some years ago I met a chap who had been serving in the RN during the Falkland War. On the day that the Atlantic Conveyer was sunk, this chap was manning a gun (an Oerlikon I think) on his ship when the warning came that an Exocet missile was inbound. As the missile passed them at short range everybody opened up on it, but unfortunately to no affect and the Atlantic Conveyer was hit and sunk with its precious cargo of Chinooks. I thought, if somebody had managed to hit that Exocet, the whole course of the war might have been altered - almost certainly shortened. One other thing, the word "yomp" would probably never had entered the language. Still there are always "what ifs" in any war.