John,
I would say that despite the US Army...the Chinook became a graat helicopter.
The CH-34/CH37 had a great autopilot in the thing....but the next generation of helicopters, the UH-1/CH-47 were not equipped with any autopilot....and the great leap forward in the 47 Series....the C Model only added a Pitch Sas Channel that had some sort of Pitch attitude hold capability.
It was not until the advent of the MH-47 did the Army get its head out its ass and consider the Chinook as being something more than a flying Five Ton Truck.
When the UH-60's arrived....they did so without an Auto-pilot. They had a Flight Director system....but it was hand guided.
It took Aviation becoming its own Branch....and Officers being dedicated Aviators rather than Cannon Cockers, Grunts, and worse of all....Truck Drivers....seconded to Aviation for the Army to really progress and begin to embrace technology to improve the capability of the helicopters.
If you remember the wonderful "Tactical Instrument Rating" created by a General Tolson....I once got to remind him of the limitations of that system in a pickup truck ride from halfway between Charlotte and the Adjutant General's office in Raleigh one rainy, murky, ugly day after we parked a Huey in a cow pasture. Shortly after that we began to get all sorts of slots at the Instrument Flying Course where we obtained "Standard Instrument Ratings".