Does the PLUTO pipeline under the ocean still exist?

And here we were thinking Pluto was hiding out somewhere near the edge of the Solar System!


Asked by: Paul Hosier, Spain

Operation PLUTO was a plan to pump fuel from England to the continent to sustain allied forces during WWII. The main pipes ran from Dungeness to Boulogne and from the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg. After the war, the lines were decommissioned and salvaged for the lead they contained. It’s said that Hitler’s bombing raids ironically provided much of the lead needed to make the pipes in the first place.

Today you can stay at the PLUTO guesthouse in Dungeness, the actual building that housed one of the WWII pumping stations, which was built to look like an ordinary home to disguise its true purpose.

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