Especially among the first officers the SAR service was not what they had imagined when joining the air force and many applied to the Air Force Academy. This caused new first officers to be ordered to the 300 Sqn, which reinforced the problems, resulting in high turnover. The Sea Kings were designed to be maritime helicopters, but were increasingly used for terrestrial SAR missions, and on occasion aerial firefighting. Throughout the 1970s the number of air ambulance missions increased dramatically, hitting 242 in 1977.