I am certain that they were not barking mad so maybe something went wrong
Something went wrong JB, that's for sure - they crashed. The only barking done here was from the AMs. Now AMs can be bad, but are rarely mad, so when this infamous verdict is laid aside, their motivation in arriving at it can be studied. As you have hinted, there is a common thread connecting the three threads (pardon the pun) running on this forum; Herc, Nimrod, Chinook. That common thread is the scandal of the total breakdown (it is no less IMHO) of the enforcement of airworthiness standards in the UK military airfleet to make it fit for purpose. That scandal and this one may be linked, and one day we may well know if that is so.