Davef68 :-
No, it was down to lack of money (It was in 1967) - it would be another 10 years before the RAF got the Chinook (there was another abortive attempt in the early 70s cancelled due to the oil crisis.
Interesting. I, along with my fellow course students, was at 5 AFTS, RAF Oakington, in the winter of 62/63. We were given a talk by two visiting SOs about the exciting future for helicopters in the RAF, with the expected introduction of the Chinook into RAF service. If we volunteered now we could be a part of that exciting future. Having just graduated after three years at Sleaford Tech we had at least learned that most basic rule of Service life, never volunteer! So as one man we didn't. The rule proved sound, the Chinooks didn't arrive until after my time in the RAF.
Mind you, we also didn't volunteer to dig out half the length and half the width of the runway there which was covered in a frozen hard mix of snow and ice, but the SWO ensured we were armed with picks and shovels and were obliged to do so. It was eventually with some satisfaction that we observed our endeavours proved insufficient as the CFI, having taken off with no problem in his Vampire, landed on our bit, ran through the next bit, and ended up in the barrier. We were training on Varsities and later flew them to Wyton to continue our flying there until mother nature achieved what we had failed to.