In my first year of commercial flying I met a guy who flew for Connellan Airways, and he told me about trying to get back into Darwin on Christmas Eve 1974. He did a couple of ILS's in the Heron and when he got visual each time the x-wind was to great to attempt a landing so he diverted to the old Katherine aerodrome and sat it out overnight. He reckons that engineer(complete with a carton of grog) on the ground got a tug onto the other Heron and kept it into wind during the cyclone, must have been a brave lad. The Heron and engineer both survived and the Heron's HF radio was about the only means of communication out of Darwin.
This guy also said that they operated the DC-3 single pilot, and they used anyone with a pilot's licence as radio operators in the weeks after the cyclone to get things moving.
Imagine CASA letting that happen today! Are yes we will need at least a months notice and the fee will be these many dollars!!