Any info on "rhubarb" patrols?

**RobotSpark** · 08-17-2021 17:14

I was thinking about doing a "mission generator" based on the "rhubarb" patrols shortly after the Battle of Britain, but I'm having trouble finding much information on the patrols themselves.

What I do know is that after the Battle of Britain, Fighter Command was keen to keep Luftwaffe fighter assets tied up so they couldn't be used in other theatres. One of the ways this was done was with the "rhubarb" patrols ("on a rhubarb" being RAF slang for searching for targets of opportunity). In bad weather, small groups of fighters would sweep over German territory and attack any ground targets they saw, with the priority being to entice German fighters to fight them. Historically, these patrols weren't very effective (I remember reading a pilot recall how all they did one sortie was strafe a water tower!) and out of 149 patrols (336 sorties) only 7 German planes were shot down (and 8 British planes were shot down too).

Ideally I'd find some rules to simulate the bad weather (aside from just the cloud layer rules) and have the patrols be based on some sort of random generation for encounters. Perhaps players would choose a sector to patrol, and roll on a table to see what sort of trouble they find (whether it be ground targets, enemy fighters, or not much at all).

However, any extra information on the "rhubarb" patrols (and any other advice you might have) would help to draw up what sort of "encounters" should be on a table, and how often they should happen. Thanks in advance!

**Jager** · 08-18-2021 12:53

From what I've read, the Luftwaffe figured out when the formations spotted on radar were just fighters, and declined to intercept.
Also, small groups of fighters were tough to spot and intercept anyway.
Most targets of importance that fighters could hurt were pretty well protected by FLAK.
The RAF tried to lure them up with heavily escorted bombers (Circuses), which worked better, though results were still mixed.
When the 8th and 9th AF started Rodeos, they targeted things the Germans couldn't ignore, like airfields and trains.

Karl

**RobotSpark** · 08-18-2021 19:42

Thanks for the info! I've managed to find a lot more information and I'm starting to put together the "historical background" for the scenario(s) relating to it - I'll post it here once it's mostly done.

**RobotSpark** · 08-18-2021 22:33

From the research I've done, I've found out a lot more about Rhubarbs, and I've written a brief overview of them for the scenario booklet thingy I'm planning. If anything I've written here seems off, please let me know!

By November 1940, the Battle of Britain had for all intents and purposes ended. The Luftwaffe no longer posed the threat to the RAF and Britain that it had in the months prior, and German bombing raids were reduced in scale. However, without any ground forces on the Western Front, there wasn’t much for the RAF in Britain to do initially.

The RAF knew that it was important to keep the Luftwaffe tied up over the Western front, to prevent them from being deployed to other fronts. It was decided that by harassing German strategic interests in France, the RAF would pose a threat that couldn’t be ignored by the Luftwaffe and therefore draw them out into battle.

Initially, this was done in two types of mission. “Circus” missions were large-scale fighter sweeps over northern France, meant to draw out the Luftwaffe in open battle. “Rhubarb” missions, the first of which took place on December 20th 1940, were conducted in bad weather to attack targets of opportunity – including enemy fighters.

Circus missions were generally ineffective, as it was soon realised that high-flying fighters posed no real threat to Luftwaffe or German interests, and the bad weather conditions of Rhubarbs meant that finding targets was typically harder. Circus sweeps soon incorporated bombers with a disproportionately large fighter escort to attract Luftwaffe fighters, and soon other types of missions, such as Ramrods, Roadsteads, and Rangers, were employed to further still fight the Luftwaffe.

Rhubarbs, however, were generally ineffective at drawing out the Luftwaffe but they still presented a good opportunity to attack German interests free from the threat of a large interception force. Heavily-armed but generally poorer-performing planes such as the Whirlwind and the Hurricane shone in these conditions, striking targets such as trains, fuel depots, and grounded aircraft with devastating power.

Rhubarbs were carried out by a variety of different squadrons and nationalities. Some notable examples include No. 263 Squadron operating Westland Whirlwinds, No. 452 Squadron of the RAAF which flew Spitfires, and American volunteers in Spitfires in the RCAF and RAF who would go on to fight in the 4th Fighter Group, the highest-scoring Allied fighter group of the entire war.

While the Luftwaffe wasn’t a major threat to Rhubarb sorties, deadly German anti-air still posed considerable danger to many RAF fighters. To the dismay of RAF pilots, most targets were well-protected by anti-air guns, and sometimes decoy targets such as fake trains would be laid out to draw eager pilots into anti-air kill zones!

The effectiveness of the Rhubarbs is highly disputed. Early Spitfire and Hurricane-lead Rhubarbs were generally less effective due to their weaker armament of .303’s – once they became more common, the 20mm Hispanos would make short work of most ground targets, and the use of bombs and rockets certainly helped. By June 1941, 149 Rhubarb patrols had been carried out, and only 7 enemy fighters had been shot down at the cost of 8 British pilots lost.

Marshal of the Royal Air Force William Sholto Douglas said that the Rhubarbs gave “valuable experience alike for pilots, operational commanders, and the staffs of the formations concerned”.

The last Rhubarb to be conducted, as far as my research has lead me to believe, was on July 5th 1944 as Whirlwinds of No. 263 Squadron attacked an oil depot at Bois de Maulanay. Fighters such as Spitfires generally stopped conducting Rhubarbs in late 1943, and most ground attack forces were prioritised for the upcoming Invasion of Normandy. With that decision came the end to an unique era of British military aviation history.