Seven members of the Manchester United team known as the Busby Babes were among 21 people killed when their plane crashed on take-off.
The Munich air crash – Did you know?
- The young United team had become champions of England in 1956 and again in 1957, and were in second place, six points behind Wolves, at the time of the crash with 14 games left to play that season.
- Between the plane, aborted second and disastrous third take-off attempts, heavy snow had begun to fall. At that point, Duncan Edwards sent a telegram to his landlady in Manchester saying that all flights had been cancelled.
- After two failed take-off attempts, the players were already nervous when they re-boarded the plane. Taylor, Jones, Colman and Edwards all changed seats, moving to the rear of the plane in the belief that they would be safer there if a crash occurred before take-off.
- As the plane made its way down the runway on its final journey, Liam ‘Billy’ Whelan ,a devout Catholic , is said to have cried out,,If this is death, then I’m ready for it.
- One of the journalists that died was Frank Swift of the News of the World. Swift was a former goalkeeper for Manchester City, and had played for England 19 times.
- United completed the season with a rebuilt side under assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, as Busby recuperated. Remarkably they reached the FA Cup Final, but a team featuring just four crash survivors was beaten 2-0 by Bolton Wanderers at Wembley.
- At the same ground 10 years later, Busby realised his dream when Manchester United became the first English club to win the European Cup (below). Munich survivors Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes both played in the 4-1 victory over Benfica of Portugal.
- Berry and Blanchflower were both evicted from their houses owned by United within two years of the crash, while other survivors were sold on relatively quickly, Gregg, in particular, has been a vocal critic of the club’s attitude to survivors and their families over the year's.
THE GREAT PLAYERS
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