FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 - Nemesis of the RAF night bomber

In this video, Dieter Beikirch presents the FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2 night-fighter radar intercept system. Dieter uses his perfectly restored and fully functioning example, to explain the functions and demonstrate how the display screens looked and, surprisingly, how the system might have sounded to a Luftwaffe night-fighter crew operating the radar.

In the final months of 1943, the Luftwaffe began to deploy a new version of the Lichtenstein night fighter radar system - the SN-2 - to significant effect. Operating on a lower frequency than previous versions, the FuG 220 SN-2 was easily recognised from its distinctive large 8 dipole 'stag's antlers' antenna system. The low-frequency transmissions and large antenna system made the radar less susceptible to British electronic countermeasures. The British had achieved significant success with a range of passive and active countermeasures used against German radar, but Window was chief among them. Employing clouds of slowly descending 27cm long aluminium coated paper strips, Window was ejected by the bombers at points in the attack when the risk of detection and interception where highest. Window was designed to overwhelm the enemy radar with vast and nebulous signal returns that effectively blinded the system to valid detections.

The one downside of the large antenna setup was that it reduced the top speed of the operating aircraft by as much as 50 kmh (or 30 mph) - a not insignificant disadvantage in the deadly contest of air warfare.

The first SN-2s had a minimum range of 900 meters, leaving the pilot of the operating aircraft to attempt visual detection in the last stages of the pursuit. This typically meant descending in altitude and performing positioning manoeuvres in the hope of placing the enemy aircraft against the foil of brighter areas of the sky - a tactic that risked alerting the enemy to the attacker's position and giving away the element of surprise. To solve this, earlier FuG 220 SN-2 installations carried additional radar sets capable of short-range detection - but again at the expense of further reduction to speed. From early 1944 new SN-2 versions with a lower minimum range allowed these additional sets to be removed. The FuG 220 SN-2 achieved significant successes for the Luftwaffe until mid-1944, when the latest version of the SN-2 radar fell into Allied hands when a fully equipped Ju 88 landed in England by mistake, and the crew had no time to destroy the onboard equipment before capture.
This led to a successful Allied programme of jamming of the FuG 220 SN-2 and subsequent variations.

This video was recorded at one of Europe's finest private collections of German avionics equipment, covering the early days of military radio communication and radar to the end of the vacuum tube era