Big search for beacon led to photographer

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33665, 15 October 1974, Page 20

Big search for beacon led to photographer

- A big search and rescue effort was mounted in Christchurch yesterday after a signal was detected from an emergency beacon used on aircraft and boats.

Two helicopters and a Harvard, controlled from an emergency centre set up at Harewo o d, j searched Banks Peninsula and the southern suburbs most of the day. The signal was traced last evening to a house in Hornby, where a professional photographer, Mr B. P. Purcell, had photographed the beacon for an advertisement. “I got a hell of a fright when the Post Office inspectors knocked on the door,” said Mr Purcell. “The beacon had been sitting on a shelf since Sunday, and I was just developing my prints of it when they arrived. “They brought in a machine which whirred in front of the beacon, and one of the men (said: "That’s it.” Mr Purcell collected the beacon on Friday, and kept it in his house or his van until ! Sunday, when he photographed it around his home, and took it to Lyttelton.

i The beacon, 3in wide, about 7in high, and 2in thick, I bore a cord and tag, which, I Mr Purcell said, he avoided pulling during the week-end. “It was also written on the 'side that the beacon starts on impact. It had been in my van for several hours, but we did not go over rough roads.” The crew of a United States Starlifter aircraft first detected the signal while flying to Antarctica on Saturday. The pilot radioed back to Christchurch, but the signal was not picked up again until 9.30 a.m. yesterday. Two Post Office inspectors travelled to Little River, up to the top of a rough road leading to Port Levy, and then to the Hilltop, in the belief the beacon was in that area. HELICOPTER READY A party of policemen stood by to begin a ground search

[in case the signal was pin-1 pointed near Little River, and an Iroquois helicopter was) placed in readiness to fly] them in. It was then decided the beacon was possibly in Hornby, and the inspectors; drove back to Christchurch. I Within 20 minutes they' traced the beacon to one of two houses in Parker Street. A quick visit established! it was not in the first house.

iMr Purcell, next door, ended Jthe search when he brought : it out from a shelf in his 'bedroom. TAKEN AWAY The beacon was taken away for examination by the Post Office. I Mr A. S. Wilson, of the Civil Aviation department, [said it had taken so long to find the beacon because the [signal had been deflected from the roof of the house.