1958 - AIR DISASTER
			The Munich Air Crash - Manchester United
	February 6th 1958 Those on board were in a relaxed mood when the plane landed on German soil. They had played cards, chatted over the latest news, read any books and magazines which were around and passed the time away as best they could. There was the usual air of nervous apprehension about the flight, but card schools and conversation hid any fears of flying and some even managed to catch up on lost sleep rather than gaze out on the snowscape below. By around 2 PM, G-ALZU AS 57 was ready once more for take-off with Captain Kenneth Rayment, the second in command, at the controls. The man in charge, Captain James Thain, had flown the plane out to Belgrade, and his close friend and colleague was now taking the `Lord Burleigh' home again. At 2.31 PM the aircraft control tower was told that `609 Zulu Uniform is rolling' and Captain Thain later described what happened: "Ken opened the throttles which were between us and when they were fully open I tapped his hand and held the throttles in the fully open position. Ken moved his hand and I called for `full power'. The engines sounded an uneven note as the aircraft accelerated and the needle on the port pressure gauge started to fluctuate. I felt a pain in my hand as Ken pulled the throttles back and said: `Abandon takeoff. I held the control column fully forward while Ken put on the brakes. Within 40 seconds of the start of its run the aircraft was almost at a halt again". The cause of the problem had been boost surging - a very rich mixture of fuel causing the engines to over-accelerate - a fault which was quite common in the Elizabethan. As the two men talked over the problem Captain Rayment decided that he would attempt a second take-off, this time opening the throttles gradually before releasing the brakes, and then moving to full power. The telegram Duncan Edwards sent to his landlady back in Manchester telling her of the delay.....but a third attempt at takeoff was made. The telegram was delivered after the crash. At 2.34 PM permission for a second takeoff attempt was given by air traffic control and for a second time the plane came to a halt. During their wait while the aircraft was being refueled, the passengers had gone into a lounge for coffee. Now, after the two aborted attempts to take off, the party was in the lounge once more. It had begun to snow quite heavily. Full-back Bill Foulkes remembers: "We'd been playing cards for most of the flight from Belgrade to Munich, and I remember when we left the aircraft thinking how cold it was. We had one attempt at taking off, but didn't leave the ground, so I suppose a few of those on board would start to worry a little bit, and when the second takeoff failed we were pretty quiet when we went back into the lounge". Some of the players must have felt that they would not be flying home that afternoon. Duncan Edwards sent a telegram to his landlady back in Manchester: "All flights canceled returning home tomorrow". The telegram was delivered at around 5 PM Bill Foulkes recalls how after a quarter of an hour delay the passengers were asked to board again but it was another five minutes before everyone was back in the aircraft. "Alf Clarke from the Evening Chronicle had put a call through to his office and we had to wait for him to catch up with us. We got back into our seats, but we didn't play cards this time.... I slipped the pack into my jacket pocket and sat back waiting for takeoff I was sitting about half-way down the aircraft next to a window, on the right-hand side of the gangway. Our card school was Ken Morgans, who was on my right, and facing us David Pegg and Albert Scanlon. Matt Busby and Bert Whalley were sitting together on the seat behind us and I remember how Mark Jones, Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards and Eddie Colman were all at the back. David Pegg got up and moved to the back: `I don't like it here, it's not safe,' he said and went off to sit with the other players. I saw big Frank Swift back there too, he also felt that the rear was the safest place to be. There was another card school across the gangway from us, Ray Wood and Jackie Blanchflower were sitting on two of the seats, Roger Byrne, Billy Whelan and Dennis Viollet on the others with one empty seat amongst them". Back on the flight deck Captain Thain and Captain Rayment had discussed the problem they were having with the station engineer William Black, who had told them that the surging they were having was quite common at airports like Munich because of its altitude. At 3.03 PM 609 Zulu Uniform was rolling again. Captain Thain describes the next attempt at takeoff: "I told Ken that if we got boost surging again, I would control the throttles. Ken opened them to 28 inches with the brakes on. The engines were both steady so he released the brakes and we moved forward again. He continued to open the throttles and again I followed with my left hand until the levers were fully open. I tapped his hand and he moved it. He called `Full power' and I checked the dials and said: `Full power'". Captain Thain again noticed that there was a sign of boost surging and called this out to Captain Rayment above the noise of the engines. The surging was controlled and the throttle pushed back until it was fully open: "I glanced at the air speed indicator and saw it registered 105 knots and was flickering. When it reached 117 knots I called out `V1' [Velocity One, the point on the runway after which it isn't safe to abandon takeoff]. Suddenly the needle dropped to about 112 and then 105. Ken shouted, `Christ, we can't make it' and I looked up from the instruments to see a lot of snow and a house and a tree right in the path of the aircraft". February 7th 1958 The full horror of the crash is revealed. In the foreground the shredded tail of the aircraft is almost unrecognizable. This part of the Elizabethan had struck a house, setting it on fire. In the centre background is the main body of the craft. The Elizabethan left the runway, went through a fence and crossed a road before the port wing struck a house. The wing and part of the tail were torn off and the house caught fire. The cockpit struck a tree and the starboard side of the fuselage hit a wooden hut containing a truck loaded with fuel and tyres. This exploded. Bill Foulkes had crouched down in his seat after tightening his safety belt. He remembered afterwards a terrific bang, then after being unconscious for a few moments, seeing a gaping hole in front of him. "The back of the aircraft had just disappeared. I got out as quickly as I could and just ran and ran. Then I turned and realised that the plane wasn't going to explode, and I went back. In the distance I could see the tail part of the aircraft blazing and as I ran back I came across bodies. Roger Byrne still strapped to his seat, Bobby Charlton lying quite still in another seat, and Dennis Viollet. Then Harry Gregg appeared and we tried to see what we could do to help". The two team-mates helped the injured. Matt Busby, badly hurt, was taken away on a stretcher, Bobby Charlton had walked over to Gregg and Foulkes and was helped into a mini-bus, sitting alongside Dennis Viollet in the front seats as other survivors were picked up. They were taken to the Rechts de Isar Hospital in Munich. It was the following day before the true horror of the air crash became evident to Bill Foulkes and Harry Gregg: "We went in and saw Matt in an oxygen tent, and Duncan Edwards, who seemed to be badly hurt. Bobby Charlton had a bandaged head, Jackie Blanchflower was nursing a badly gashed arm which had been strapped up by Harry Gregg in the snow of the night before. Albert Scanlon lay with his eyes closed, he had a fractured skull, and Dennis Viollet had a gashed head and facial injuries. Ray Wood's face was cut and he had concussion and Ken Morgans and Johnny Berry lay quite still in their beds. I spoke to a nurse and she told me that she thought Duncan had a better chance of making a full recovery than Johnny did.... We came across Frank Taylor in another bed; he was the only journalist around and he asked if we'd like to have a beer with him. Like us, he didn't know the full implications of what had happened the afternoon before. We were about to leave the hospital when I asked a nurse where we should go to see the other lads. She seemed puzzled so I asked her again: `Where are the other survivors?' .... `Others? There are no others, they are all here.' It was only then that we knew the horror of Munich. The Busby Babes were no more." Roger Byrne, Geoff Bent, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Liam Whelan, Eddie Colman and Tommy Taylor had been killed instantly. Club secretary Walter Crickmer had also died, along with the first team trainer, Tom Curry, and coach Bert Whalley. Duncan Edwards and Johnny Berry were critically injured and fighting for their lives, Matt Busby had suffered extensive injuries and was the only club official to survive the crash. Eight of the nine sportswriters on board the aircraft had also perished: Alf Clarke, Don Davies, George Follows, Tom Jackson, Archie Ledbrooke, Henry Rose, Eric Thompson and the gentle giant, Frank Swift. One of the aircrew had been killed, together with two other passengers: the travel agent who had arranged the flight details, and a supporter who had flown out to watch the game. Nine players had survived, but two of them, Johnny Berry and Jackie Blanchflower - brother of Tottenham Hotspur's Danny - never played again. Two photographers, the travel agent's wife, and two Yugoslav passengers, one with a young baby, had survived, together with Frank Taylor. On the afternoon of the crash 21 people had died, 20 had survived, of whom four were close to death. Of those four, Duncan Edwards, Matt Busby, Johnny Berry and Captain Kenneth Rayment, two would survive. Three weeks after the air crash, which had become known simply as `Munich', Duncan Edwards and Kenneth Rayment, had lost their battle to live. The Aftermath On the afternoon of the crash Alf Clarke had telephoned the Evening Chronicle sports desk to say that he thought the flight would be held up by the weather and made arrangements to return the following day. By three in the afternoon the paper had more or less `gone to bed', and the final editions were leaving Withy Grove. In other parts of the city the daily newspaper staffs were beginning their routines. Reporters were heading out on diary jobs, sub-editors were looking through agency stories to see what was to form the backbone of the Friday morning editions. That weekend United were to play League leaders Wolves at Old Trafford. Despite the long journey home it looked on form as if the Reds would close the four-point gap at the top of the table, putting them just one victory behind Billy Wright's side, and ready to increase their efforts for that third successive Championship. Could United emulate HuddersfieldTown and Arsenal? Surely if they did it would be an even greater achievement than in those pre-war days. Saturday was coming round again. United would make the headlines. Then on the teleprinter came an unbelievable message: `Manchester United aircraft crashed on take off..... heavy loss of life feared.' The BBC interrupted its afternoon programming to broadcast a news flash. The football world listened to the words but few understood their meaning. Jimmy Murphy, Matt Busby's wartime friend and now his assistant, was manager of the Welsh national side, and a World Cup qualifying game had coincided with the Red Star fixture. Murphy told Matt Busby that he would go to Yugoslavia rather than the game at NinianPark, Cardiff, but his manager told him that his place was with the Welsh side. "I always sat next to Matt on our European trips," Murphy recalls, "but I did what he said and let him go off to Red Star without me. Mind you, I've got to be honest - my mind was more on our game in Yugoslavia than the match I was watching. When I heard that we were through to the semi-final it was a great load off my mind; I didn't like not being there." He had just returned to Old Trafford from Wales when news of the aircrash reached him. Alma George, Matt Busby's secretary, told him that the charter flight had crashed. Murphy failed to react. "She told me again. It still didn't sink in, then she started to cry. She said many people had been killed, she didn't know how many, but the players had died, some of the players. I couldn't believe it. The words seemed to ring in my head. Alma left me and I went into my office. My head was in a state of confusion and I started to cry." The following day Jimmy Murphy flew out to Munich and was stunned by what he saw: "Matt was in an oxygen tent and he told me to `keep the flag flying'. Duncanrecognised me and spoke. It was a terrible, terrible time." Murphy was given the job of rebuilding. Life would go on despite the tragedy, and Manchester United would play again: "I had no players, but I had a job to do." After the agency newsflash had reached the Manchester evening newspapers, extra editions were published. At first details were printed in the Stop Press. By 6 PM a special edition of the Manchester Evening Chronicle was on sale: "About 28 people, including members of the Manchester United football team, club officials, and journalists are feared to have been killed when a BEA Elizabethan airliner crashed soon after takeoff in a snowstorm at Munich airport this afternoon. It is understood there may be about 16 survivors. Four of them are crew members". The newspaper, which was carrying Alf Clarke's match report and comments from the previous night's game, said on its front page: `Alf Clarke was talking to the Evening Chronicle reporters in Manchester just after 2.30 PM when he said it was unlikely that the plane would be able to take off today.' Even though only three hours had elapsed since the crash the newspaper had a detailed report of how the disaster occurred. Twenty-four hours later, as the whole of Europe reacted to the news of the tragedy, the Evening Chronicle listed the 21 dead on its front page under a headline: `Matt fights for life: a 50-50 chance now'. There was a picture of Harry Gregg and Bill Foulkes at the bedside of Ken Morgans, and details of how the other injured were responding to treatment. The clouds of confusion had lifted - Munich had claimed 21 lives, 15 were injured and, of these, four players and Matt Busby were in a serious condition. In the days following, Manchester mourned as the bodies of its famous footballing heroes were flown home to lie overnight in the gymnasium under the main grandstand before being passed on to relatives for the funerals. Today that gymnasium is the place where the players lounge has been built, where those who succeeded the Babes gather after a game for a chat and a drink with the opposition. Thousands of supporters turned out to pay their last respects. Where families requested that funerals should be private, the United followers stayed away from gravesides but lined the route to look on in tearful silence as corteges passed. Cinema newsreels carried reports from Munich, and the game itself responded with memorial services, and silent grounds where supporters of every club stood, heads bowed, as referees indicated a period of silence by a blast on their whistles. Desmond Hackett wrote a moving epitaph to Henry Rose, whose funeral was the biggest of all. A thousand taxi drivers offered their services free to anyone who was going to the funeral and there was a six-mile queue to Manchester's Southern Cemetery. The cortege halted for a moment outside the Daily Express offices in Great Ancoats Street where Hackett wrote in the style of Henry: `Even the skies wept for Henry Rose today.....' Rival clubs offered helping hands to United. Liverpool and NottinghamForest were first to respond by asking if they could do anything to assist. Football had suffered a terrible blow. To give United a chance of surviving in football the FA waived its rule which `cup-ties' a player once he has played in an FA Cup round in any particular season. The rule prevents him from playing for another club in the same competition, so that if he is transferred he is sidelined until the following season. United's need for players was desperate and the change of rules allowed Jimmy Murphy to begin his rebuilding by signing Ernie Taylor from Blackpool. Football Returns To Old Trafford Manchester United took a deep breath. Football would return to Old Trafford. Thirteen nights after news of Munich had reached Jimmy Murphy the days of torture ended when United played again. Their postponed FA Cup-tie against Sheffield Wednesday drew a crowd of 60,000 on a cold February evening of immense emotion. Spectators wept openly, many wore red-and-white scarves draped in black - red, white and black were eventually to become United'srecognisedcolours - and the match programme added a poignant final stroke to a tragic canvas. Under the heading `Manchester United' there was a blank teamsheet. Spectators were told to write in the names of the players. Few did, they simply listened in silence as the loudspeaker announcer read out the United team. Harry Gregg in goal and Bill Foulkes at right-back had returned after the traumas of Munich, other names were not so familiar. At left fullback was Ian Greaves who had played his football with United's junior sides and found himself replacing Roger Byrne: "I can remember the dressing room was very quiet. I couldn't get Roger out of my mind, I was getting changed where he would have sat. I was wearing his shirt..." At right-half was Freddie Goodwin, who had come through from the reserve side after joining United as a 20-year-old. He had played his first League games in the 1954-55 season. Another reserve regular was centre-half Ronnie Cope, who had come from United's juniors after joining the club in 1951. At left-half was Stan Crowther, whose transfer to United was remarkable. He played for Asron Villa, and was not very keen to leave the Midlands club. Jimmy Murphy recalls: "Eric Houghton was Villa manager at the time and he had told Stan that we were interested in him. He didn't want to leave Villa, but Eric got him to come to Old Trafford to watch the Sheffield Wednesday game. On the way up he told him he thought that he should help us out, but Stan told him he hadn't brought any kit with him. `Don't worry, I've got your boots in my bag,' Eric said. We met at about half-past five and an hour before the kick-off he'd signed!" Colin Webster at outside-right had joined United in 1952 and made his League debut in the 1953-54 season. He had won a League Championship medal in 1956 after 15 appearances, but had since been edged out of the side by Johnny Berry. Ernie Taylor was inside-right, and at centre-forward was Alex Dawson, a brawny Scot who had made his debut as a 16-year-old in April 1957, scoring against Burnley. Inside-left was Mark Pearson, who earned the nickname `Pancho' because of the Mexican appearance his sideburns gave him. Like the Pearson who preceded him, Stan, and the one who was to follow him almost two decades later, Stuart, Mark was a powerful player and a regular goalscorer with the lower sides. That night he took the first steps of his senior career. The new United outside-left was Shay Brennan, who was a reserve defender. Such was United's plight that the 20-year-old was to begin his League career not as a right-back but as a left-winger. Sheffield Wednesday had no chance. Murphy's Manchester United were playing for the memory of their friends who had died less than a fortnight earlier. The passion of the crowd urged them on. To say that some played beyond their capabilities would be unfair, but with Wednesday perhaps more affected by the occasion than the young and new players, the final score was United 3 Wednesday 0. Playing in the Sheffield side was Albert Quixall, later to join United in a record transfer deal, who recalls: "I don't think anyone who played in the game or who watched it will ever forget that night. United ran their hearts out, and no matter how well we had played they would have beaten us. They were playing like men inspired. We were playing more than just eleven players, we were playing 60,000 fans as well". United scored in the 27th minute after two errors by Brian Ryalls in the Wednesday goal. Bill Foulkes had taken a free-kick from well outside the penalty area and his shot was going wide when Ryalls palmed it away for a corner. There had seemed no danger from the shot, but Brennan's corner kick brought his first goal for the senior side. Ryalls tried to collect the cross under the bar and could only turn the ball into his own net. Brennan got a second later in the game when a shot from Mark Pearson rebounded off the 'keeper and straight into the Irishman's path. He made no mistake and United led 2-0. Five minutes from the end of that unforgettable night Alex Dawson scored the third. United had reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. The crowd turned for home, their heads full of memories of that remarkable game, their hearts full of sadness as they realised the full extent of Munich. The new team had carried on where the Babes had left off.... but they would never see their heroes again. Two days after that cup-tie Duncan Edwards lost his fight to survive, and the sadness of Munich was rekindled.