Humanitarian missions have included flying in the first Cyclone Tracy relief supplies to Darwin , assisting victims of the Bali bombing and the Boxing Day tsunami . Since the late 1960s the squadron has detached aircraft each summer to work in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica . During the period 29 November to 12 December 1979 , the squadron flew flights to Antarctica in support of body recovery operations associated with the Air New Zealand Flight 901 DC-10 crash which impacted the slopes of Mt Erebus with the loss of all 257 lives
Air New Zealand Flight 901
Air New Zealand Flight 901
No. 40 Squadron RNZAF