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119-458: Airborne assault British Sector American Sector Normandy landings American Sector Anglo-Canadian Sector Logistics Ground campaign American Sector Anglo-Canadian Sector Breakout Air and Sea operations Supporting operations Aftermath Operation Pluto ( Pipeline Under the Ocean or Pipeline Underwater Transportation of Oil , also written Operation PLUTO )

238-697: A miniature golf facility. The value of Operation Pluto was controversial. Samuel Eliot Morison , the United States naval historian, noted that the pipelines "proved very useful for supplying the Allied armies as they advanced in Germany." According to the civil official historian, Michael Postan , Operation Pluto was "strategically important, tactically adventurous, and, from the industrial point of view, strenuous". On 24 May 1945, Winston Churchill described Operation Pluto as "a wholly British achievement and

357-439: A badly scattered drop) but two of its groups concentrated on glider missions. By the end of April joint training with both airborne divisions ceased when Taylor and Ridgway deemed that their units had jumped enough. The 50th TCW did not begin training until April 3 and progressed more slowly, then was hampered when the troops ceased jumping. A divisional night jump exercise for the 101st Airborne scheduled for May 7, Exercise Eagle,

476-494: A blocking position on the northern approaches to Sainte-Mère-Église with a single platoon while the rest reinforced the 3rd Battalion when it was counterattacked at mid-morning. The 1st Battalion did not achieve its objectives of capturing bridges over the Merderet at la Fière and Chef-du-Pont, despite the assistance of several hundred troops from the 507th and 508th PIRs. Coastal trading vessel During World War II there

595-625: A compromise was reached. Because of the heavier German presence, Bradley, the First Army commander, wanted the 82nd Airborne Division landed close to the 101st Airborne Division for mutual support if needed. Major General J. Lawton Collins , commanding the VII Corps , however, wanted the drops made west of the Merderet to seize a bridgehead. On May 27 the drop zones were relocated 10 miles (16 km) east of Le Haye-du-Puits along both sides of

714-441: A continuous length of pipeline similar to a submarine communications cable without the core and insulation, but with armour to withstand the internal pressure, which could be deployed by a cable-layer ship . Additional capacity could be obtained by laying multiple lines. By using high pressure, the line could carry different kinds of fuel. At low pressure different fuels would mix, but at high pressure they would stay separate. Thus,

833-512: A cost of £30,000 apiece, and named HMS  Conundrum 1 through 6. A Conundrum was towed to a special dock where it was held by two steel arms. A sprocket chain driven by an electric motor rotated the Conundrum while pipe was wound around it. At the end of each 4,000-foot (1,200 m) segment, the next was welded, the swarf was cleaned out, and the process continued until the Conundrum held 90 miles (140 km) of pipe, at which point it had

952-448: A day, and coastal tankers were delivering 2,500 to 3,000 long tons (2,500 to 3,000 t) per day to Ostend , and a similar amount to Rouen. On the other hand, only Antwerp and Cherbourg were capable of handling the large tankers, but Antwerp was under attack from V-1 flying bombs and V-2 rockets , and it was considered inadvisable for it handle more than one tanker at a time. As for the coastal tankers, they were in demand for service in

1071-581: A day-long battle failed to take Saint-Côme-du-Mont and destroy the highway bridges over the Douve. The glider battalions of the 101st's 327th Glider Infantry Regiment were delivered by sea and landed across Utah Beach with the 4th Infantry Division. On D-Day its third battalion, the 1st Battalion 401st GIR, landed just after noon and bivouacked near the beach. By the evening of June 7, the other two battalions were assembled near Sainte Marie du Mont . The 82nd Airborne's drop, mission "Boston", began at 01:51. It

1190-463: A displacement of 1,600 long tons (1,600 t). An Admiralty hopper barge named W.24 was converted to carry a Conundrum, and named HMS Persephone . It was a twin-screw vessel 200-foot (61 m) and 35-foot (11 m) wide. On 4 June 1943 a trial lay of one mile of Hamel pipe was successfully carried out. Though not having the capacity to cross the Channel, Persephone laid 16 Hamel pipes across

1309-520: A displacement of 12,220 long tons (12,420 t), could each handle 100 mi (160 km) of 3-inch pipe weighing approximately 6,400 long tons (6,500 t). Two storage tanks 50 feet (15 m) in diameter, one forward and one aft, provided the stowage space for the pipe. Thames barges were converted to handle connecting the cable at the shore ends, where the waters were too shallow for these ships to operate. These were HM cable barges Britannic , Oceanic , Runic , Gold Dust and Gold Drift . Each

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1428-553: A few key officers were held over for continuity. The 14 groups assigned to IX TCC were a mixture of experience. Four had seen significant combat in the Twelfth Air Force . Four had no combat experience but had trained together for more than a year in the United States. Four others had been in existence less than nine months and arrived in the United Kingdom one month after training began. One had experience only as

1547-410: A mile away near St. Germain-de-Varreville. The team was unable to get either its amber halophane lights or its Eureka beacon working until the drop was well in progress. Although the second pathfinder serial had a plane ditch in the sea en route, the remainder dropped two teams near DZ C, but most of their marker lights were lost in the ditched airplane. They managed to set up a Eureka beacon just before

1666-576: A piece of amphibious engineering skill of which we may well be proud." American airborne landings in Normandy Airborne assault British Sector American Sector Normandy landings American Sector Anglo-Canadian Sector Logistics Ground campaign American Sector Anglo-Canadian Sector Breakout Air and Sea operations Supporting operations Aftermath American airborne landings in Normandy were

1785-546: A plane load of troops numbering 15-18 men. To achieve surprise, the parachute drops were routed to approach Normandy at low altitude from the west. The serials took off beginning at 22:30 on June 5, assembled into formations at wing and command assembly points, and flew south to the departure point, code-named "Flatbush". There they descended and flew southwest over the English Channel at 500 feet (150 m) MSL to remain below German radar coverage. Each flight within

1904-426: A public phone booth for instructions. Each pumping station was equipped with thirty diesel-powered reciprocating pumps with a capacity of 180 long tons (180 t) per day, and four large Byron Jackson Company electric centrifugal pumps capable of 3,500 long tons (3,600 t) per day, which worked out to 400,000 imperial gallons (1,800,000 L) at 1,500 psi (10,000 kPa). Both stations were fed from

2023-484: A route that avoided Allied naval forces and German anti-aircraft defenses along the eastern shore of the Cotentin. On April 12 a route was approved that would depart England at Portland Bill , fly at low altitude southwest over water, then turn 90 degrees to the southeast and come in "by the back door" over the western coast. At the initial point the 82nd Airborne Division would continue straight to La Haye-du-Puits, and

2142-464: A serial by chalk numbers (literally numbers chalked on the airplanes to aid paratroopers in boarding the correct airplane), were organized into flights of nine aircraft, in a formation pattern called "vee of vee's" (vee-shaped elements of three planes arranged in a larger vee of three elements), with the flights flying one behind the other. The serials were scheduled over the drop zones at six-minute intervals. The paratroopers were divided into sticks ,

2261-425: A serial was 1,000 feet (300 m) behind the flight ahead. The flights encountered winds that pushed them five minutes ahead of schedule, but the effect was uniform over the entire invasion force and had negligible effect on the timetables. Once over water, all lights except formation lights were turned off, and these were reduced to their lowest practical intensity. Twenty-four minutes 57 miles (92 km) out over

2380-617: A series of military operations carried by the United States as part of Operation Overlord , the invasion of Normandy by the Allies on June 6, 1944, during World War II . In the opening maneuver of the Normandy landings , about 13,100 American paratroopers from the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions , then 3,937 glider infantrymen , were dropped in Normandy via two parachute and six glider missions. The divisions were part of

2499-408: A special broaching tool to remove the metal swarf . Ellis teamed with H. A. Hammick, the chief engineer of Iraq Petroleum Company , and the pipe became known as 'Hamel' after their surnames, although after the war Ellis successfully asserted his claim to be recognised as the sole inventor. Unlike Hais, Hamel pipe was too stiff to be coiled in a ship's hold, as it could not withstand the twist along

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2618-477: A transport (cargo carrying) group and the last had been recently formed. Joint training with airborne troops and an emphasis on night formation flying began at the start of March. The veteran 52nd Troop Carrier Wing (TCW), wedded to the 82nd Airborne, progressed rapidly and by the end of April had completed several successful night drops. The 53rd TCW, working with the 101st, also progressed well (although one practice mission on April 4 in poor visibility resulted in

2737-568: The Allied Expeditionary Air Force , approved the use of the recognition markings on May 17. For the troop carrier aircraft this was in the form of three white and two black stripes, each two feet (60 cm) wide, around the fuselage behind the exit doors and from front to back on the outer wings. A test exercise was flown by selected aircraft over the invasion fleet on June 1, but to maintain security, orders to paint stripes were not issued until June 3. The 300 men of

2856-726: The Avonmouth-Thames pipeline , which had a capacity of 135,000 long tons (137,000 t) per month. A 70-mile (110 km) branch line was constructed connecting Dungeness with its eastern terminal at Walton-on-Thames . Sandown was connected to the system through a 22-mile (35 km) link between the Isle of Wight and Fawley Refinery . The pipeline connections to Pluto were completed by March 1944. The corresponding sites in France were selected in June 1943. Sandown would be connected to

2975-444: The English Channel . Mountbatten was tasked with planning the Allied invasion of German-occupied Europe , and had concerns about the supply of petroleum products, since it was considered unlikely that a port with oil reception facilities could be quickly secured. The British War Office estimated that 60 per cent or more by weight of the supplies of the expeditionary forces would consist of petrol , oil and lubricants (POL). In

3094-667: The Solent to the Isle of Wight . It was not known precisely how long the Hamel pipe would last, but it was assumed to be about six weeks. Fluorescein dye was added to the fuel to allow patrol aircraft to detect leaks. In view of this success, it was decided to utilise both Hais and Hamel. In the spring of 1943, the Petroleum Warfare Department selected sites for the pumping stations. One was established at Sandown on

3213-603: The TO&;E of the C-47 Skytrain groups would be increased from 52 to 64 aircraft (plus nine spares) by April 1 to meet his requirements. At the same time the commander of the U.S. First Army , Lieutenant General Omar Bradley , won approval of a plan to land two airborne divisions on the Cotentin Peninsula , one to seize the beach causeways and block the eastern half at Carentan from German reinforcements,

3332-586: The U.S. Fifth Army during the Salerno landings , codenamed Operation Avalanche, in September 1943. However, a shortcoming of the system was that within 2 miles (3.2 km) of the ground emitter, the signals merged into a single blip in which both range and bearing were lost. The system was designed to steer large formations of aircraft to within a few miles of a drop zone, at which point the holophane marking lights or other visual markers would guide completion of

3451-580: The invasion of Normandy went through several preliminary phases throughout 1943, during which the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) allocated 13½ U.S. troop carrier groups to an undefined airborne assault. The actual size, objectives, and details of the plan were not drawn up until after General Dwight D. Eisenhower became Supreme Allied Commander in January 1944. In mid-February Eisenhower received word from Headquarters U.S. Army Air Forces that

3570-543: The pathfinder companies were organized into teams of 14-18 paratroops each, whose main responsibility would be to deploy the ground beacon of the Rebecca/Eureka transponding radar system, and set out holophane marking lights. The Rebecca, an airborne sender-receiver, indicated on its scope the direction and approximate range of the Eureka, a responsor beacon. The paratroops trained at the school for two months with

3689-422: The 101st Airborne Division would make a small left turn and fly to Utah Beach . The plan called for a right turn after drops and a return on the reciprocal route. However the change in drop zones on May 27 and the increased size of German defenses made the risk to the planes from ground fire much greater, and the routes were modified so that the 101st Airborne Division would fly a more southerly ingress route along

Operation Pluto - Misplaced Pages Continue

3808-547: The 101st at Portbail , code-named "Muleshoe", was approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of that of the 82d, "Peoria", near Flamanville . Despite precise execution over the channel, numerous factors encountered over the Cotentin Peninsula disrupted the accuracy of the drops, many encountered in rapid succession or simultaneously. These included: Flak from German anti-aircraft guns resulted in planes either going under or over their prescribed altitudes. Some of

3927-493: The 4th Division had already seized the exit. The 3rd Battalion of the 501st PIR, also assigned to DZ C, was more scattered, but took over the mission of securing the exits. A small unit reached the Pouppeville exit at 0600 and fought a six-hour battle to secure it, shortly before 4th Division troops arrived to link up. The 501st PIR's serial also encountered severe flak but still made an accurate jump on Drop Zone D. Part of

4046-448: The 501st PIR before the changes of May 27). Those of the 82nd were west (T and O, from west to east) and southwest (Drop Zone N) of Sainte-Mère-Eglise. Each parachute infantry regiment (PIR), a unit of approximately 1800 men organized into three battalions, was transported by three or four serials , formations containing 36, 45, or 54 C-47s, and separated from each other by specific time intervals. The planes, sequentially designated within

4165-401: The 82nd Airborne Division, also wanted a glider assault to deliver his organic artillery. The use of gliders was planned until April 18, when tests under realistic conditions resulted in excessive accidents and destruction of many gliders. On April 28 the plan was changed; the entire assault force would be inserted by parachute drop at night in one lift, with gliders providing reinforcement during

4284-544: The Bristol Channel and the Solent under the supervision of the designers, but it was another matter for the naval laying parties to achieve the same degree of proficiency under wartime conditions and across the much wider English Channel. Sir Donald Banks wrote: "The technique of cable laying had been mastered but we were not yet sufficiently versed in the practice of connecting the shore ends, nor in effecting repairs to

4403-630: The British and five at Sainte-Honorine-des-Pertes for the Americans. The Tombola lines had a tendency to break, and the Chants fared poorly in the rough weather of the English Channel. By 28 July sixteen of them were laid up for repairs at a special tanker repair facility that had been established at Hamble-le-Rice . Consideration was given to cancelling Pluto, but under the circumstances it

4522-523: The British. Trained crews sufficient to pilot 951 gliders were available, and at least five of the troop carrier groups intensively trained for glider missions. Because of the requirement for absolute radio silence and a study that warned that the thousands of Allied aircraft flying on D-Day would break down the existing system, plans were formulated to mark aircraft including gliders with black-and-white stripes to facilitate aircraft recognition. Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Leigh-Mallory , commander of

4641-537: The DZ was covered by pre-registered German fire that inflicted heavy casualties before many troops could get out of their chutes. Among the killed were two of the three battalion commanders and one of their executive officers. A group of 150 troops captured the main objective, the la Barquette lock, by 04:00. A staff officer put together a platoon and achieved another objective by seizing two foot bridges near la Porte at 04:30. The 2nd Battalion landed almost intact on DZ D but in

4760-476: The Douve River (which would also provide a better visual landmark at night for the inexperienced troop carrier pilots). Over the reluctance of the naval commanders, exit routes from the drop zones were changed to fly over Utah Beach, then northward in a 10 miles (16 km) wide "safety corridor", then northwest above Cherbourg . As late as May 31 routes for the glider missions were changed to avoid overflying

4879-607: The Dumbo lines were delivering 4,500 long tons (4,600 t) a day to the Rhine . New lines continued to be laid, the last one being laid on 24 May. The system was finally closed down to save manpower on 7 August, by which time the pipelines had carried 180 million imperial gallons (820 million litres) of petrol. Operation Pluto was officially disbanded on 31 August, and the Petroleum Warfare Department

Operation Pluto - Misplaced Pages Continue

4998-467: The Far East. It was therefore decided to continue with Operation Pluto. As the fighting moved on to Germany, Dumbo was connected to an inland pipeline system that was extended from Boulogne to Antwerp, Eindhoven and ultimately Emmerich . Dumbo surpassed its target of 1 million imperial gallons (4.5 million litres) (about 3,000 long tons (3,000 t)) per day on 15 March 1945, and by 3 April

5117-593: The Isle of Wight, and another at Dungeness on the Kent coast. Construction was carried out at night and in secret, and equipment was carried in under tarpaulins. The pumping stations and storage tanks were camouflaged to look like villas, seaside cottages, old forts, amusement parks and other innocuous features. Strict instructions were issued that neither "Petroleum Warfare Department" nor its initials should appear on any letter or package. The locations were erased from maps. Lorry drivers conducting deliveries had to phone from

5236-526: The Merderet. The 101st Airborne Division's 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR), which had originally been given the task of capturing Sainte-Mère-Église , was shifted to protect the Carentan flank, and the capture of Sainte-Mère-Église was assigned to the veteran 505th PIR of the 82nd Airborne Division. For the troop carriers, experiences in the Allied invasion of Sicily the previous year had dictated

5355-403: The Petroleum Warfare Department at this time, and he heard about the proposal, and was convinced that it was possible. In the hilly terrain of Iran, Anglo-Iranian had employed a 3-inch (7.6 cm) pipeline. Running at 1,500  psi (10,000  kPa ), it delivered 100,000 imperial gallons (450,000 L) per day, the equivalent of over 20,000 jerricans. On 15 April he pitched his proposal for

5474-482: The U.S. VII Corps , which sought to capture Cherbourg and thus establish an allied supply port. The two airborne divisions were assigned to block approaches toward the amphibious landings at Utah Beach , to capture causeway exits off the beaches, and to establish crossings over the Douve river at Carentan to help the U.S. V Corps merge the two American beachheads . The assaulting force took three days to block

5593-460: The UK in the spring of 1944. In 1943, the British also initiated a programme to construct 400-deadweight-ton (410-deadweight-tonne) Channel tankers (Chants), but only 37 were completed by May 1944. It was hoped that petroleum products might also be supplied by ocean-going T2 tankers lying offshore through ship-to-shore pipelines. The project to develop these pipelines was codenamed Operation Tombola, and

5712-435: The UK. After the first few days of the invasion, it was hoped that petroleum could be supplied in bulk. Pipelines were not the sole or even the principal means by which Combined Operations was contemplating supplying bulk petroleum; it intended to rely primarily on small shallow-draught coastal tankers , of which thirty were under construction. American 600- deadweight-ton (610- deadweight-tonne ) "Y" tankers began arriving in

5831-441: The United Kingdom, of which Operation Pluto contributed 370 thousand long tons (380 thousand tonnes) or 8 per cent. The total cost of Operation Pluto was reckoned at £4,428,000. After the war, more than 85 per cent of the pipeline was salvaged and subsequently scrapped. This was accomplished during the period September 1946 to October 1949, using Latimer and Holdfast (by then operated by Ministry of War Transport under

5950-479: The amount of fuel pumped, both pipelines failed: the Hais due to a faulty coupling , and the Hamel when it encountered a sharp edge on the ocean floor. Operation Bambi was terminated the following day. Only about 3,300 long tons (3,400 t) (935,000 imperial gallons (4,250,000 L)) of fuel had been transferred. Meanwhile, the port of Rouen had been captured on 30 August, and Le Havre on 12 September. Le Havre

6069-527: The approaches to Utah, mostly because many troops landed off-target during their drops. Still, German forces were unable to exploit the chaos. Despite many units' tenacious defense of their strongpoints, all were overwhelmed within the week. [Except where footnoted, information in this article is from the USAF official history: Warren, Airborne Operations in World War II, European Theater ] Plans for

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6188-412: The assault force arrived but were forced to use a hand held signal light which was not seen by some pilots. The planes assigned to DZ D along the Douve River failed to see their final turning point and flew well past the zone. Returning from an unfamiliar direction, they dropped 10 minutes late and 1 mile (1.6 km) off target. The drop zone was chosen after the 501st PIR's change of mission on May 27 and

6307-432: The bad weather, but navigating errors and a lack of Eureka signal caused the 2nd Battalion 502nd PIR to come down on the wrong drop zone. Most of the remainder of the 502nd jumped in a disorganized pattern around the impromptu drop zone set up by the pathfinders near the beach. Two battalion commanders took charge of small groups and accomplished all of their D-Day missions. The division's parachute artillery experienced one of

6426-589: The chairman of Anglo-Iranian, Sir William Fraser , who was also the petroleum advisor to the War Office, and from Henry Wright, the managing director of Siemens Brothers . Fraser agreed to pick up the costs of trials, albeit in the hope that the government would subsequently reimburse the company. Siemens Brothers developed the cable in conjunction with the National Physical Laboratory based on their existing undersea telegraph cable . It

6545-540: The channel, the troop carrier stream reached a stationary marker boat code-named "Hoboken" and carrying a Eureka beacon, where they made a sharp left turn to the southeast and flew between the Channel Islands of Guernsey and Alderney . Weather over the channel was clear; all serials flew their routes precisely and in tight formation as they approached their initial points on the Cotentin coast, where they turned for their respective drop zones. The initial point for

6664-646: The chief engineer of the Burmah Oil Company , was convinced that a flexible pipeline could be built from mild steel , which was more readily available than lead. His pipe was 3 + 1 ⁄ 2  in (8.9 cm) in diameter, with 0.212-inch (5.4 mm) walls. The prototype was fabricated in 30-foot (9.1 m) segments by J & E Hall , a firm better known as a manufacturer of refrigeration equipment. The segments were made to be flash welded together. Normally welded pipe gave trouble due to rings of residue that formed around each weld. Ellis designed

6783-450: The commander of the 82nd Airborne Division Artillery who had also been temporary assistant division commander (ADC) of the 82nd Airborne Division, replacing Major General William C. Lee , who suffered a heart attack and returned to the United States. Bradley insisted that 75 percent of the airborne assault be delivered by gliders for concentration of forces. Because it would be unsupported by naval and corps artillery, Ridgway, commanding

6902-411: The currents and tidal conditions found in the English Channel. Moreover, to minimise interference by the enemy and the effect of the tides, the entire pipeline would have to be laid in a single night. They regarded the proposal as infeasible using any known method of construction of pipelines 6 inches (15 cm) or more in diameter. The Chief Engineer of Anglo-Iranian, Clifford Hartley , was visiting

7021-526: The day. The Germans, who had neglected to fortify Normandy, began constructing defenses and obstacles against airborne assault in the Cotentin, including specifically the planned drop zones of the 82nd Airborne Division. At first no change in plans were made, but when significant German forces were moved into the Cotentin in mid-May, the drop zones of the 82nd Airborne Division were relocated, even though detailed plans had already been formulated and training had proceeded based on them. Just ten days before D-Day,

7140-547: The designer of the Conundrum; and £250 to A. E. Price, who designed the wedge gripping device used to fix the pipeline near the shore. It is estimated that nearly 5.4 million long tons (5.5 million tonnes) of petroleum products were delivered to the Allied Expeditionary Force. Of this, 826 thousand long tons (839 thousand tonnes) came directly from the United States and 4.3 million long tons (4.4 million tonnes) (84 per cent) from

7259-604: The director-general of the Petroleum Warfare Department ; Sir Arthur Charles Hearn  [ de ] , a former director of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and the oil advisor to the Fourth Sea Lord ; and George Martin Lees , an eminent geologist . At the time, submarine pipelines were in use in ports and over short distances, but no pipeline had ever been laid across such a great distance or under

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7378-409: The drop. Each drop zone (DZ) had a serial of three C-47 aircraft assigned to locate the DZ and drop pathfinder teams, who would mark it. The serials in each wave were to arrive at six-minute intervals. The pathfinder serials were organized in two waves, with those of the 101st Airborne Division arriving a half-hour before the first scheduled assault drop. These would be the first American and possibly

7497-485: The end of the month with simulated drops in which pathfinders guided them to drop zones. The 315th and 442d Groups, which had never dropped troops until May and were judged the command's "weak sisters", continued to train almost nightly, dropping paratroopers who had not completed their quota of jumps. Three proficiency tests at the end of the month, making simulated drops, were rated as fully qualified. The inspectors, however, made their judgments without factoring that most of

7616-425: The first Allied troops to land in the invasion. The three pathfinder serials of the 82nd Airborne Division were to begin their drops as the final wave of 101st Airborne Division paratroopers landed, thirty minutes ahead of the first 82nd Airborne Division drops. Efforts of the early wave of pathfinder teams to mark the drop zones were partially ineffective. The first serial, assigned to DZ A, missed its zone and set up

7735-655: The initial stages of the assault, packaged fuel would be supplied in 20-litre (4.4-imperial-gallon) jerricans and 44-imperial-gallon (200-litre) drums . To supply the twenty million jerricans required, an entire American manufacturing plant was shipped to the London area , where it was operated by the Magnatex firm under the supervision of the Ministry of Supply . By 1944, a stockpile of 250,000 long tons (250,000 t) of packaged petrol and diesel fuel had been accumulated in

7854-862: The longitudinal axis that came with each turn of the coil. The Petroleum Warfare Department proposed that it be wound around a buoyant steel drum that could be towed by tugs or fitted on a Hopper barge . The resulting steel drum was 60 ft (18 m) long and 40 ft (12 m) in diameter, and was known as a "Conun" or "Conundrum". Tests were carried out in the Froude tank at the National Physical Laboratory to verify that Conundrums could be towed at speed without yawing . Stewarts & Lloyds undertook to design, construct and operate two factories at Tilbury where 40-foot (12 m) lengths of pipe were welded together into 4,000-foot (1,200 m) segments. Six Conundrums were constructed at

7973-416: The mean time between repairs of the Hamel pipelines varied between 52 and 112 days, with 68 days being the average. They could not be run at the intended pressure, so they carried only petrol, and plans for the pipelines to deliver aviation spirit as well were discarded. In December there was reconsideration of whether to continue with Operation Pluto. By this time Antwerp was unloading an ocean-going tanker

8092-410: The men who jumped from planes at lower altitudes were injured when they hit the ground because of their chutes not having enough time to slow their descent, while others who jumped from higher altitudes reported a terrifying descent of several minutes watching tracer fire streaking up towards them. Of the 20 serials making up the two missions, nine plunged into the cloud bank and were badly dispersed. Of

8211-678: The most accurate of the D-Day drops, half the regiment dropping on or within a mile of its DZ, and 75 percent within 2 miles (3.2 km). The other regiments were more significantly dispersed. The 508th experienced the worst drop of any of the PIRs, with only 25 percent jumping within a mile of the DZ. Half the regiment dropped east of the Merderet, where it was useless to its original mission. The 507th PIR's pathfinders landed on DZ T, but because of Germans nearby, marker lights could not be turned on. Approximately half landed nearby in grassy swampland along

8330-473: The most effective use of the Eureka beacons and holophane marking lights of any pathfinder team. The planes bound for DZ N south of Sainte-Mère-Église flew their mission accurately and visually identified the zone but still dropped the teams a mile southeast. They landed among troop areas of the German 91st Division and were unable to reach the DZ. The teams assigned to mark DZ T northwest of Sainte-Mère-Église were

8449-496: The names Empire Ridley and Empire Taw ), Empire Tigness (a former German tanker), Wrangler (an ex-Admiralty Mark III tank landing craft ), and Redeemer (an ex-Admiralty motor fishing vessel). In all, 22,000 long tons (22,000 t) of the original 23,000 long tons (23,000 t) of lead and 3,300 long tons (3,400 t) of the original 5,500 long tons (5,600 t) of steel were recovered, along with 75,000 imperial gallons (340,000 L) of petrol that were still in

8568-434: The need for coastal tankers , which could be hindered by bad weather, were subject to air attack, and needed to be offloaded into vulnerable storage tanks ashore. A new kind of pipeline was required that could be rapidly deployed. Two types were developed, named "Hais" and "Hamel" after their inventors. Two pipeline systems were laid, each connected by camouflaged pumping stations to the Avonmouth-Thames pipeline . The first

8687-412: The night formation training. As a result, 20 percent of the 924 crews committed to the parachute mission on D-Day had minimum night training and fully three-fourths of all crews had never been under fire. Over 2,100 CG-4 Waco gliders had been sent to the United Kingdom, and after attrition during training operations, 1,118 were available for operations, along with 301 Airspeed Horsa gliders received from

8806-443: The only ones dropped with accuracy, and while they deployed both Eureka and BUPS, they were unable to show lights because of the close proximity of German troops. Altogether, four of the six drops zones could not display marking lights. The pathfinder teams assigned to Drop Zones C (101st) and N (82nd) each carried two BUPS beacons. The units for DZ N were intended to guide in the parachute resupply drop scheduled for late on D-Day, but

8925-594: The operation, 570 nmi (1,060 km) were made by firms in the United Kingdom, while 140 nmi (260 km) was manufactured in the United States by four American firms, including The Okonite Calendar Company, General Cable, Phelps Dodge and the General Electric Company . Full-scale production of the two-inch pipe was started on 14 August 1942, using steel from the Corby Steelworks , and on 30 October, 30 mi (50 km) of it

9044-510: The original Operation Overlord plan, Cherbourg was supposed to be captured within eight days of D-Day (D+8) and, despite the expectation that the Germans would carry out systematic demolitions, be opened within three days. Pipe laying was to commence four days later, with the Bambi system fully operational by D+75 (seventy-five days after D-Day). The discovery of an additional German division in

9163-570: The other to block the western corridor at La Haye-du-Puits in a second lift. The exposed and perilous nature of the La Haye de Puits mission was assigned to the veteran 82nd Airborne Division ("The All-Americans"), commanded by Major General Matthew Ridgway , while the causeway mission was given to the untested 101st Airborne Division ("The Screaming Eagles"), which received a new commander in March, Brigadier General Maxwell D. Taylor , formerly

9282-525: The pair of DZ C were to provide a central orientation point for all the SCR-717 radars to get bearings. However the units were damaged in the drop and provided no assistance. The assault lift (one air transport operation) was divided into two missions, " Albany " and " Boston ", each with three regiment-sized landings on a drop zone. The drop zones of the 101st were northeast of Carentan and lettered A, C, and D from north to south (Drop Zone B had been that of

9401-563: The peninsula in daylight. IX Troop Carrier Command (TCC) was formed in October 1943 to carry out the airborne assault mission in the invasion. Brigadier General Paul L. Williams , who had commanded the troop carrier operations in Sicily and Italy, took command in February 1944. The TCC command and staff officers were an excellent mix of combat veterans from those earlier assaults, and

9520-484: The pipe became wrapped around the propeller of the support ship, HMS Algerian . An attempt to lay Hamel pipe instead failed on 27 August when it was discovered that tons of barnacles had attached themselves to the bottom of HMS Conundrum 1 , thereby preventing it from rotating. The barnacles were scraped off, and another attempt was made a few days later, but the pipeline broke about 29 nmi (54 km) out. The expert technicians had been able to lay pipelines across

9639-529: The pipeline could be used for aviation spirit , and then switched to diesel fuel. The project was given the codename Pluto, which stood for "pipeline underwater transportation of oil" or "pipeline under the ocean". The operation was placed under the chief of staff to the Supreme Allied Commander , Designate (COSSAC). The G-4 section of the COSSAC staff, which assumed responsibility for Pluto,

9758-623: The pipelines carried about 8 per cent of all petroleum products sent from the United Kingdom to the Allied Expeditionary Force in North West Europe, including some 180 million imperial gallons (820 million litres) of petrol. In early April 1942, the Chief of Combined Operations , Vice-Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten , approached the Secretary for Petroleum , Geoffrey Lloyd , and asked if an oil pipeline could be laid across

9877-431: The pipelines themselves became known as Tombolas. The submarine pipeline had sufficient advantages to make it worthwhile to explore as a backup means of supply. Submarine pipelines were less susceptible to enemy air attack and the frequently stormy English Channel weather, and their use would reduce the forces' dependency on vulnerable storage tanks ashore. Lloyd consulted his expert advisors: Brigadier Sir Donald Banks ,

9996-402: The pipelines. The value of the scrap lead and steel was well in excess of the costs of recovery. The total value of the salvaged steel and lead was estimated at £400,000. Although the pipeline itself is no longer in use, many of the buildings that were constructed or utilised to disguise it remain, especially on the Isle of Wight, where the former pumping station at Sandown is currently in use as

10115-524: The port of Cherbourg , a distance of over 65 nmi (120 km). Dungeness would be connected to the port of Ambleteuse . In keeping with the Disney theme suggested by Pluto , the former was codenamed " Bambi " and the latter " Dumbo ". As part of the Operation Overlord deception operation known as Operation Fortitude , a fake oil dock was created at Dover . The architect Basil Spence

10234-559: The problem. All matériel requested by commanders in IX TCC, including armor plating, had been received with the exception of self-sealing fuel tanks , which Chief of the Army Air Forces General Henry H. Arnold had personally rejected because of limited supplies. Crew availability exceeded numbers of aircraft, but 40 percent were recent-arriving crews or individual replacements who had not been present for much of

10353-503: The river. Estimates of drowning casualties vary from "a few" to "scores" (against an overall D-Day loss in the division of 156 killed in action ), but much equipment was lost and the troops had difficulty assembling. Timely assembly enabled the 505th to accomplish two of its missions on schedule. With the help of a Frenchman who led them into the town, the 3rd Battalion captured Sainte-Mère-Église by 0430 against "negligible opposition" from German artillerymen. The 2nd Battalion established

10472-434: The same hull form as Channel Tankers (CHANT) ; initially all the tankers were sold to foreign owners and therefore there was no conflict in nomenclature. The USA and UK both used coastal tankers also. UK used Empire coaster tankers and T1 tankers . Many coasters had some armament, such as a 5-inch (127 mm) stern gun , 3-inch (76.2 mm) bow anti-aircraft gun and Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft gun . These were removed after

10591-414: The six serials which achieved concentrated drops, none flew through the clouds. However, the primary factor limiting success of the paratroop units was the decision to make a massive parachute drop at night, because it magnified all the errors resulting from the above factors. A night parachute drop was not again used in three subsequent large-scale airborne operations. The negative impact of dropping at night

10710-540: The successful missions had been flown in clear weather. By the end of May 1944, the IX Troop Carrier Command had available 1,207 Douglas C-47 Skytrain troop carrier airplanes and was one-third overstrength, creating a strong reserve. Three quarters of the planes were less than one year old on D-Day, and all were in excellent condition. Engine problems during training had resulted in a high number of aborted sorties, but all had been replaced to eliminate

10829-525: The troop carrier crews, but although every C-47 in IX TCC had a Rebecca interrogator installed, to keep from jamming the system with hundreds of signals, only flight leads were authorized to use it in the vicinity of the drop zones. Despite many early failures in its employment, the Eureka-Rebecca system had been used with high accuracy in Italy in a night drop of the 82nd Airborne Division to reinforce

10948-437: The undersea leaks which were caused fairly close inshore through these faulty concluding operations." Finally, on 22 September a Hais cable was laid that worked, delivering 56,000 imperial gallons (250,000 L) per day. This was followed on 29 September by the successful installation of a Hamel cable by HMS Conundrum 2 . However, on 3 October when the pressure was increased from 50 to 70 bars (730 to 1,020 psi) to augment

11067-481: The vicinity in May led to the expected capture being pushed back ten days from D+8 to D+18. In the event, the port of Cherbourg was captured on 27 June (D+21), and due to the extensive damage the first POL tanker did not discharge there until 25 July (D+49). In the meantime, fuel was supplied through the small port of Port-en-Bessin by coastal tankers, and from ocean-going tankers using two Tombola lines at Port-en-Bessin for

11186-485: The worst drops of the operation, losing all but one howitzer and most of its troops as casualties. The three serials carrying the 506th PIR were badly dispersed by the clouds, then subjected to intense antiaircraft fire. Even so, 2/3 of the 1st Battalion was dropped accurately on DZ C. The 2nd Battalion, much of which had dropped too far west, fought its way to the Haudienville causeway by mid-afternoon but found that

11305-541: Was 90 feet (27 m) long with a 20-foot (6.1 m) beam and a loaded displacement of 450 long tons (460 t) carrying 2.5 miles (4.0 km) of three-inch Hais pipe. Anglo-Iranian Oil personnel supervised the erection of pumping equipment by the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), Pioneer Corps and Royal Engineers personnel, and a RASC bulk petroleum company was specially trained to operate them. A Port of London Authority factory at Tilbury

11424-555: Was a demand for coasters to support troops around the world. Type N3 ship and Type C1 ship were the designations for small cargo ships built for the United States Maritime Commission before and during World War II. Both were use for close to shore and short cargo runs. The Government of the United Kingdom used Empire ships type Empire F as merchant ships for coastal shipping. British seamen called these "CHANTs", possibly because they had

11543-408: Was also a lift of 10 serials organized in three waves, totaling 6,420 paratroopers carried by 369 C-47s. The C-47s carrying the 505th did not experience the difficulties that had plagued the 101st's drops. Pathfinders on DZ O turned on their Eureka beacons as the first 82nd serial crossed the initial point and lighted holophane markers on all three battalion assembly areas. As a result, the 505th enjoyed

11662-572: Was an operation by British engineers, oil companies and the British Armed Forces to build oil pipelines under the English Channel to support Operation Overlord , the Allied invasion of Normandy during the Second World War . The British War Office estimated that petrol , oil , and lubricants would account for more than 60 per cent of the weight of supplies required by the expeditionary forces. Pipelines would reduce

11781-563: Was badly damaged in the fighting and by demolitions. Rouen, an inland port 75 miles (121 km) up the Seine River , was in better shape, with its quays largely intact, although demolitions had been carried out and the river channel to it was blocked by mines and sunken vessels. Even when it was cleared the channel from Le Havre was shallow, but coastal tankers carrying POL from the UK were able to navigate it and discharge in Rouen. Boulogne

11900-399: Was called upon to design it. Constructed from camouflaged scaffolding , fibreboard and old sewage pipe, the fake facility spanned 3 acres (1.2 ha) and included fake versions of pipelines, storage tanks, jetties, vehicle parks and antiaircraft emplacements. Wind machines were used to create clouds of dust to simulate activity, and the site was guarded by the military police . At night it

12019-453: Was captured on 22 September, and the port was opened on 22 October. A Hais pipeline was laid by HMS Sancroft , which commenced pumping on 26 October, and remained in action until the end of the war. Lines were run to a beach in the outer harbour of Boulogne, 23 nmi (43 km) distant across the Strait of Dover , instead of Ambleteuse as originally planned because the beach at the latter

12138-442: Was covered by a protective layer of fifty galvanised steel wires, and camouflaged canvas cover. The pipe could deliver 3,500 imp gal (16,000 L) per day at a pressure of 500 psi (3,400 kPa), and withstand an underwater pressure of 1,950 psi (13,400 kPa). The 2-inch size was chosen to keep the weight down; a larger cable would have required a larger ship to deploy it. A 120-yard (110 m) prototype

12257-425: Was decided to proceed. Time was wasted in deciding whether to terminate the line inside or outside the harbour; eventually the latter was chosen. The first Hais pipeline was laid by HMS Latimer in just ten hours on 12 August 1944, but the pipeline failed when an escorting destroyer caught it with its anchor and damaged it beyond repair. A second effort was made by HMS Sancroft two days later. This too failed when

12376-464: Was extended to Calais where better railway connections were available to transport the fuel. This extension was completed in November. By December, nine 3-inch and two 2-inch Hamel pipelines and four 3-inch and two 2-inch Hais cable pipelines had been laid, a total of 17 pipelines, and Dumbo was providing 1,300 long tons (1,300 t) of petrol per day. Not one of the Hais cable pipelines broke, and

12495-429: Was further illustrated when the same troop carrier groups flew a second lift later that day with precision and success under heavy fire. Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division "Screaming Eagles" jumped first on June 6, between 00:48 and 01:40 British Double Summer Time . 6,928 troops were carried aboard 432 C-47s of mission "Albany" organized into 10 serials. The first flights, inbound to DZ A, were not surprised by

12614-528: Was further tested when two German 500 lb (230 kg) bombs were dropped on Swansea 100 feet (30 m) from the cable. Later a ship's anchor dragged the cable pipe, but Holdfast was able to locate and repair the damage. To prove the reliability of the cable pipe, pumping operations were carried out continuously, first at the original design pressure of 750 psi (5,200 kPa), and then at 1,500 psi (10,000 kPa), with 56,000 imp gal (250,000 L) of fuel delivered per day. The trial

12733-640: Was headed by British Major General Nevil Brownjohn , with American Colonel F. L. Rash, Colonel Frank M. Albrecht, and Major General Robert W. Crawford successively as his deputy. Royal Navy Captain John Fenwick Hutchings from the Admiralty 's Department of Miscellaneous Weapons Development was placed in command of Operation Pluto. By VE-Day his command would consist of several ships, over 100 merchant navy officers and more than 1,000 men. Hartley received support for his proposal from

12852-410: Was heavily mined. This involved a longer distance and a more difficult approach, but cable-laying techniques had been refined. The ends of the cable were dropped just offshore and picked up by the barges for connection to the shore. The Hamel pipe gave more trouble, but after some trial and error, it was laid with sections of Hais pipe at each end. Boulogne also had poor railway facilities, so the pipeline

12971-445: Was in an area identified by the Germans as a likely landing area. Consequently so many Germans were nearby that the pathfinders could not set out their lights and were forced to rely solely on Eureka, which was a poor guide at short range. The pathfinders of the 82nd Airborne Division had similar results. The first serial, bound for DZ O near Sainte-Mère-Église , flew too far north but corrected its error and dropped near its DZ. It made

13090-548: Was increased from two to four layers. At Siemens' suggestion, a second supplier, Henleys, was brought in to increase manufacturing capacity. A second test was carried out in June across the Firth of Clyde , with lengths of pipe manufactured by both Siemens and Henleys. The pipe was laid by the Post Office cable ship Iris . Both functioned successfully. Of the 710 nautical miles [nmi] (1,310  km ) of Hais cable produced for

13209-406: Was known as Hais, from Hartley-Anglo-Iranian-Siemens. The 2-inch (5 cm) diameter inner pipe, which would carry the petroleum, was made from extruded lead . This was surrounded by a layer of asphalt and paper impregnated with vinylite resin . Steel tape was wound around this to give it strength and flexibility. Around this was a layer of jute tape and asphalt-impregnated paper. Finally, it

13328-553: Was laid across the River Medway by the Post Office cable ship CS  Alert on 10 May 1942. A pumping test was then carried out using pumps borrowed from the Manchester Ship Canal Company. After two days of pumping, a failure occurred. The cable was pulled up, and the problem was found to have been caused by extrusion of the lead through gaps in the steel tape. Accordingly, the amount of steel tape

13447-475: Was loaded on board HMS  Holdfast under the command of Commander Henry Treby-Heale, which was to be used as a full-scale rehearsal of Operation Pluto. This trial occurred on 29 December 1942. A 30-mile length was laid across the Bristol Channel in rough weather at a rate of 5 knots (9.3 km/h) with the shore ends being connected at Swansea and Ilfracombe . The sturdiness of the cable pipe

13566-483: Was obscured by a smoke screen . German aircraft were allowed to overfly the facility, but only above 33,000 feet (10,000 m), where high-resolution imagery was not possible. The fake facility was inspected by King George VI , and the Supreme Allied Commander, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and his ground forces commander, General Sir Bernard Montgomery spoke to the "workers". According to

13685-530: Was postponed to May 11-May 12 and became a dress rehearsal for both divisions. The 52nd TCW, carrying only two token paratroopers on each C-47, performed satisfactorily although the two lead planes of the 316th Troop Carrier Group (TCG) collided in mid-air, killing 14 including the group commander, Col. Burton R. Fleet. The 53rd TCW was judged "uniformly successful" in its drops. The lesser-trained 50th TCW, however, got lost in haze when its pathfinders failed to turn on their navigation beacons. It continued training till

13804-429: Was requisitioned and converted into a cable pipe factory where 3 to 4 nmi (5.6 to 7.4 km) of cable pipe per day was tested, welded into 4,000-foot (1,200 m) lengths and stored. Lead was in short supply, so the Petroleum Warfare Department decided to seek an alternative that made use of cheaper and more readily available materials as a backup system to Hais, which was itself a backup system. Bernard J. Ellis,

13923-519: Was sufficiently successful that it was decided to develop 3-inch (7.6 cm)-diameter pipe. This reduced the number of pipelines required to pump the same volume of petrol, as each 3-inch pipe had more than twice the capacity of the 2-inch pipe. A merchant ship, HMS Algerian was acquired, and converted to carry 30 miles (48 km) of 3-inch cable pipe. Two more, the converted Liberty ships HMS  Sancroft and HMS  Latimer (later renamed Empire Baffin and Empire Ridley respectively) with

14042-638: Was the not-very-successful "Bambi" project, which connected Sandown on the Isle of Wight to Cherbourg in Normandy . Deployment of Bambi began on 12 August 1944, and it delivered just 3,300 long tons (3,400 t) between 22 September, when the first pipeline became operational, and 4 October, when it was terminated. More successful was "Dumbo", which ran from Dungeness on the Kent coast to Boulogne in Pas-de-Calais . The Dumbo system began pumping on 26 October, expanded to 17 pipelines by December, and remained in action until 7 August 1945. Ultimately,

14161-626: Was wound up on 31 March 1946. The Tilbury plant was transferred to the Admiralty, and all remaining stores to the Ministry of Supply. No post-war use of the technology was contemplated, so Operation Pluto's records were sent to the Public Record Office , where they remained sealed for the next thirty years. The Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors awarded tax-free payments of £9,000 to Hartley; £5,000 to Ellis; £85 to M. K. Purvis,

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