Huge drums were towed across the Channel to lay the pipeline
Two photographs above courtesy of the ...In a very short time a continuous flow of fuel was up and running. It is estimated that between August 1944 and May 1945 PLUTO delivered over 172 million gallons to France. As the allies moved inland, the pipeline was transferred from the Isle of Wight to Dungeness in Kent to shorten the supply route. PLUTO was the world’s first undersea oil pipeline and made a major contribution, not only to the Allied war effort, but also to subsequent pipeline development.
SO WHERE DOES "OLD BOB" FIT IN? by Bill Sergeant
Three years ago a group of us from Hale travelled to Normandy, taking with us two D-Day Veterans, one of whom was “Old Bob”. Somehow he'd heard of our trip and asked if we would take him with us. He had the time of his life – some sad moments but lots of fun as well.
Bob told us that on D-Day and subsequently his job had been dishing out the fuel to the Allied vehicles; fuel which was piped ashore from moored tankers at first then later via PLUTO. Sadly, Old Bob died a year after our trip. On our next visit to Normandy we walked across the beach and placed a wooden cross in his memory near one of the remaining pieces of the Mulberry Harbour. We stood and watched the tide come in and wash the cross out to sea, and we thought not only of Bob but of all those other veterans who gave their all in June 1944.
