Time dims the memory, but I seem to recall that although it had been discussed for some time the catalyst for the provision of the QD suits was the Dutch Atlantique ditching on 15 Jan 81,
Accident Report Here. I am pretty certain that we did not have them before that incident.
We received the QD suits within a year of this event. I complained at the time about the length of time it was taking to provide them and queried why we did not just buy the US suits (as used by the Dutch) "off the shelf". In the end the Beaufort suit we got was a far superior item, glad they waited in this case.
YS