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Operation Pluto - Pipe Lines Under The Ocean - was a highly ambitious engineering project to design, develop and construct undersea pipelines and huge pumping stations. These would pump petroleum fuel under the English Channel to support Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of Normandy commencing on 6th June 1944.
The route that PLUTO took across the Isle of Wight started at the Thorness beach terminal and a pumping station at Whippance Farm. Then over 14 miles it stretched across the Island, looping around Parkhurst Forest and Newport to eventually arrive at a huge storage tank hidden in Hungerberry Wood above Shanklin. From there pipes fed two pumping stations, one housed around a derelict hotel in Shanklin, the other in a part demolished Victorian fort and a golf clubhouse at Sandown. From there, 72 miles away in Europe, the Allied forces desperately needed fuel.
Today, 75 years on, the route of the pipeline and the buildings associated with PLUTO have all but disappeared. But if you look closely, there still are tantalising clues spread across the Island. I thoroughly enjoy walking for its own sake, but it is sometimes nice to have a purpose, if not an excuse. So this book offers the reader 25 guided walks and detailed maps to find what still survives of the great pipeline and the pumping stations; and in doing so to plot its course. Wherever PLUTO crossed the path there was usually a unique marker. They are still out there, waiting to be discovered.
The whole PLUTO project was massive undertaking. It was rapid, rushed and at times improvised. It was also at the very cutting edge of what was possible. It was always Top Secret.
In the end, PLUTO was not the success that saved the Allied invasion, and in truth, it was probably a ‘pipeline too far’. Immediately after the war a propaganda campaign actively sought to justify the huge expenditure of man hours and resources just before the invasion and D-Day.
But none of this should detract from our admiration for the magnificent operation and the men and women who gave their all to make it happen. It came tantalizingly close to fully supporting the Allies victory, but was ultimately beaten by the vagaries of war.
This then is the real story of PLUTO. A Ramble with a Purpose.
