Munich, the Busby Babes, and the darkest day in football

6^th February, 1958 is seen as one of the darkest days in world football, when the entire Manchester United side faced a deadly plane crash in Munich, Germany while British European Airways flight 609 crashed during its third attempt to take off on a slush-covered runway.

There were 44 passengers on board along with 6 crew members. 23 people died in the crash, including eight players from the Manchester United football team, which had just qualified for the semifinals of the European Cup.

The Manchester United side was on its way back to Old Trafford from Belgrade, Yugoslavia, currently a part of Serbia, after playing a knockout match of their European Cup tie against Red Star Belgrade.

The aircraft carrying the entire Manchester United side, along with a few supporters & journalists, was an Airspeed AS-57 Ambassador aircraft which landed in Munich for refuelling purposes.

After refuelling, the first two attempts to take off went in vain due to the heavy snowfall on the runway of the Munich airport. The Manchester United authorities planned to spend that night in Munich, but the pilots Captain James Thain and Kenneth Rayment rejected their proposal & attempted a third attempt to take off.

During the third attempt on that ice-covered runway, the plane slipped & rammed into a fence, and after a heavy collision went through a house nearby the airport.

The seven United players who died in that accident were Roger Byrne (28), Eddie Colman (21), Mark Jones (24), David Pegg (22), Tommy Taylor (26), Geoff Bent (25), Liam Whelan (22) and Duncan Edwards (21), along with club secretary Walter Crickmer, trainer Tom Curry and coach Bert Whalley.

Eight journalists also died in that accident, named Alf Clarke, Tom Jackson, Don Davies, George Fellows, Archie Ledbrook, Eric Thompson, Henry Rose, and Frank Swift, who was a former Manchester City player. Plane captain Ken Rayment perished, as did Sir Matt’s friend Willie Satinoff. Travel agent Bela Miklos and crew member Tom Cable also died.

Before that accident, Manchester United were on a dream run of 11 unbeaten matches under the supervision of Sir Matt Busby, and were just 6 points behind the league leaders with 14 matches still in hand. They had reached the fifth round of the FA Cup too.

United bounced back strongly from that critical situation, defeating Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 in the very next match after the disaster, with an inexperienced side made up of reserve and youth players. With this broken side, they reached in the 1958 FA Cup final, which they lost to Bolton Wanderers 0-2.

After that mishap, everybody blamed the pilot Captains James Thain for showing an arrogance regarding his third attempt to take off, but 10 years later, in 1968, it was proved by the investigation authority that the accident had taken place only due to the heavy slush on the runway, and that the pilot was not responsible for that.

This disaster is an indelible part of United’s history, as is Sir Matt Busby overcoming this fatal tragedy to build another great team which won the European Cup just 10 years after that incident.

They have been trying to establish themselves as the most dominant force in world football since then. In 1999, they won the treble of the EPL title, the UEFA Champions League crown & the FA Cup crown, under the supervision of legendary coach Sir Alex Ferguson, which to date is seen as the most successful season yet in United’s history.

Their legacy is heavily spread throughout every continent now, and they undoubtedly they have the most number of supporters in world football right now.