page_title: VXE-6
section_title: 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: VXE-6 / History / 1970s
caption_attribution_description: The personnel of U.S. Navy Antarctic Development Squadron 6 (VXE-6) with the aircraft the squadron used during the "Deep Freeze '71" deployment to Antarctica (l-r): Bell UH-1D Huey, Lockheed C-121J Willie Victor (BuNo 131624), Lockheed LC-130R Hercules (BuNo 155917) and a Sikorsky LH-34D Seahorse. The C-121J 131624 was retired following "Deep Freeze '71" in March 1971. The LC-130R 155917 later crashed at the South Pole Station, Antarctica, on 28 January 1973.
context_page_description: Antarctic Development Squadron Six was a United States Navy air test and evaluation squadron based Naval Air Station Point Mugu, California with forward operating bases at Christchurch, New Zealand and McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
  Established at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland on 17 January 1955 as Air Development Squadron Six, the squadron's mission was to conduct operations in support of Operation Deep Freeze, the operational component of the United States Antarctic Program. The squadron relocated to Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island on 1 February 1956. On 1 January 1969 the squadron was redesignated Antarctic Development Squadron Six.
  Following the closure of NAS Quonset Point in the 1970s, the squadron relocated to NAS Point Mugu. Using the tail codes XD and JD, the squadron flew numerous aircraft over the course of its existence—many of which were pioneering endeavors. For example, the first air link between Antarctica and New Zealand was established by men and aircraft of VX-6 in 1955. The following year, a ski-equipped R4D Dakota of VX-6 became the first aircraft to land at the South Pole.
context_section_description: During Operation Deep Freeze 1978, VXE-6 evacuated five critically injured Soviets from the crash site of an IL-14 Crate transport aircraft at Molodyozhnaya Station on the southern shore of Alasheyev Bight in the Cosmonauts Sea. This trip was 1,825 miles round trip from McMurdo Station.
  On 28 November 1979, Air New Zealand Flight 901 (TE 901) crashed into Mount Erebus, killing all 257 on board. Three hours later, VXE-6 initiated the search and rescue effort (referred to as Operation Overdue), sending an LC-130R Hercules (XD-01, BuNo 160741, c/n 4731) and two UH-1N Huey helicopters from McMurdo Station to search the area of the last known position of TE 901 (approximately 38 miles true north of McMurdo Station). These aircraft were joined a half-hour later, at 4:16pm by six more aircraft launched from McMurdo Station. No survivors could be seen. At around 9:00 am, twenty hours after the crash, helicopters with search parties managed to land on the side of the mountain. The search parties confirmed that the wreckage was from Air New Zealand Flight 901, and that there were no survivors. In June 2009, Fifteen U.S. citizens were presented the New Zealand Special Service Medal(Erebus) for their work in the body recovery, victim identification and crash investigation phases of Operation Overdue, and resulting from the TE 901 crash. Those receiving the medal included LCDR Reedy Buford, CDR William Andre Coltrin, CDR Paul Richard Dykeman, LCDR William F. Ferrell, LCDR John K. Goodrum, PHAN Charles (Chuck) Hitchcock, PH2 Richard L. Horton, ENS George Mixon, CAPT Victor Louis Pesce, CWO Choyce Prewitt, and AD2 Brian Jon Vorderstrasse.
caption: VXE-6 personnel and aircraft in 1970
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