Fuel for the allied forces
 

Hi Guys

You may have already known of this. In spite of watching films about WW2 and the European theatre, I never thought to wonder how all the military vehicles were supplied with fuel. They sure couldn't just stop at the corner station and fill up their tank or jeep gas tank. I found this film fascinating. :salute:

http://www.youtube.com/v/Nv9lBqPVuoE

Cheers

Tony :no4:

Operation "Pluto".

Love the WASP 'Wall of Fire" impression at the end!

David

Hi Tony,
The pipe line that left England near Southampton, running from Fawley refinery, can actually be seen at a place called Lepe where it emerges from underground to go into the sea.
Further east, the second pipeline, left the shoreline at Dungeness. This pipe passed about a mile from my home and the route was marked by inconspicuous concrete posts in hedgerows with an enamel sign saying "Private No Footpath". When a cutting for a new motorway was made, I had forgotten about it crossing the pipeline and wish now I had investigated it.
The film shows what a massive undertaking it was.

Great engineering
 

Hi Richard

That was interesting and it never ceases to amaze how quickly great engineering feats are carried out in times of war. The world seems to progress at double quick time. When you think this was all devised 70 plus years ago and to think they had to plan and carry out the job. One wonders how things would have worked out for Rommel if he had had a continuous supply line of fuel.

Cheers

Tony

Hi Tony,
and all done in secret too, an amazing feat.

cheers Richard

Salvage if the PLUTO pipeline system
 

Thought you might find it interesting to see what became of this amazing system. I found this website on the weekend and it made for a great read:

www.combinedops.com

About 3/4's down the lead page you will find the "Further Reading" section with the link to the salvage information.

David

Thank you
 

Hi David

Thanks for the update and link, great reading. It just goes to show we never stop learning. Thanks for posting it. :teach:

Cheers

Tony :no4:

One of the PLUTO pumps still survives in the IWM Duxford. There's a photo here - http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarge_s...n/photostream/

One also wonders how things would have worked out if the Germans knew how much oil was under their feet in Libya.