I am interested in a number of diverse areas of technology besides locks and keys, so it is a special treat when something pops up that intersects two very different areas. In this case it was my securing a WW2 German Luftwaffe FuG25 Radio Se25 Key Coding Box.

Radar was developed for military purposes in the at 1930s & into WW2. In parallel with the development of radar was IFF (Identification Friend or Foe). I am very interested in both of these fields & collect bits of equipment from this era.

In Germany the main development was the FuG25 radio set designed primarily for installation in night fighter aircraft. When it received pulses from German ground radar sets, it automatically sent out a response that was encoded with Morse code letters. These letters were determined by motor-driven sets of cams that activated switch contacts when they sensed lands in two keys inserted into the Se25 Coding Box. These keys were supplied to field radar technicians complete. The Morse letter for use that day was set by clipping off tabs on the keys. The Morse letters were caned frequently for security reasons.

For further information see: [QUOTE]http://www.cdvandt.org/FuG25a-Erstling-Hans-Jucker.pdf[/QUOTE]

Jack