All you Manchester United fans still wondering about the details of the Munich plane crash....here it is for you!!
The Munich air disaster took place on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the "Busby Babes", along with a number of supporters and journalists. Twenty of the 44 people on board the aircraft died in the crash. The injured, some of whom had been knocked unconscious, were taken to the Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich where three more died, resulting in a total of 23 fatalities with 21 survivors.
The team was returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, against Red Star Belgrade, but had to make a stop in Munich for refuelling, as a non-stop trip from Belgrade to Manchester was out of the "Elizabethan" class Airspeed Ambassador aircraft's range. After refuelling, the pilots, Captains James Thain and Kenneth Rayment, attempted to take off twice, but had to abandon both attempts due to boost surging in the port engine. Fearing that they would get too far behind schedule, Captain Thain rejected an overnight stay in Munich in favour of a third take-off attempt.
By the time of the third attempt, it had begun to snow, causing a layer of slush to build up at the end of the runway. When the aircraft hit the slush, it lost velocity, making take-off impossible. It ploughed through a fence past the end of the runway, before the port wing hit a nearby house and was torn off. Fearing that the aircraft might explode, Captain Thain set about getting the surviving passengers as far away as possible. Despite this, Manchester United goalkeeper Harry Gregg remained behind to pull survivors from the wreckage.
An investigation by the West German airport authorities originally blamed Captain Thain for the crash, claiming that he had failed to de-ice the wings of the aircraft, despite statements to the contrary from eyewitnesses. It was later established that the crash had, in fact, been caused by the build-up of slush on the runway, which had resulted in the aircraft being unable to achieve take-off velocity; Thain's name was eventually cleared in 1968, ten years after the incident.
At the time of the disaster, Manchester United were trying to become only the third club to win three successive English league titles; they were six points behind League leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers with 14 games to go. They were also holders of the Charity Shield and had just advanced into their second successive European Cup semi-final. The team were also on an 11 match unbeaten run, and had booked their place in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup two weeks previously, and were looking to reach the Final for the second successive season.
The Airspeed Ambassador G-ALZU burning at Munich
Captain James Thain, the pilot, had flown the "Elizabethan" class Airspeed Ambassador (registration G-ALZU) out to Belgrade, but handed the controls to his co-pilot, Captain Kenneth Rayment, for the return journey. At 14:19 GMT, the control tower at Munich airport was told that the plane was ready to take off, and they were given clearance to attempt take-off due to expire at 14:31. However, Captain Rayment abandoned the take off after Captain Thain had noticed the port boost pressure gauge fluctuating as the plane reached full power and the engine sounded odd while accelerating. A second attempt was made three minutes later, but, 40 seconds into the procedure, this too was called off before the plane got off the ground. The reason given for the failed attempts was that the engines had been running on an over-rich mixture, causing the engines to over-accelerate, a common problem for the Elizabethan-class plane. After the second failure, all the passengers were told to disembark from the plane and they retreated to the airport lounge. By then, it had started to snow heavily, and it looked unlikely that the plane would be making the return journey that day. Manchester United's Duncan Edwards took the opportunity to send a telegram ahead to his landlady in Manchester. It read: "All flights cancelled, flying tomorrow. Duncan."
Captain Thain informed the station engineer, Bill Black, about the problem with the boost surging in the port engine, and Black suggested that since the immediate solution of opening the engine throttle more slowly had not worked, the only remaining option would be to hold the plane in Munich overnight for engine retuning. However, Thain was anxious to stay on schedule and suggested that opening the throttle even more slowly would suffice. This would mean that the plane would not achieve take-off velocity until further down the runway, but with the runway being almost 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long, Thain believed that this should not pose a problem. Therefore, despite the snow, the passengers were called back out to the plane just 15 minutes after leaving it.
A few of the players were not confident fliers, particularly Liam Whelan, who was heard to say "This may be death, but I'm ready" shortly before take off. Others, including Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, Mark Jones, Eddie Colman and Frank Swift moved to the back of the plane, believing it to be safer. Once everyone was back on board, Captains Thain and Rayment got the plane moving again for a third take off attempt at 14:56. At 14:59, they reached the runway holding point, where they received clearance to line up ready for take-off. On the runway, the final cockpit checks were carried out and at 15:02, they were contacted to tell them that their take-off clearance would expire at 15:04. After discussion, the pilots agreed that they would attempt take-off, but they would keep a close watch on the instruments in case of any more surging in the engines. At 15:03, they contacted the control tower to inform them of their decision.
American newsreel footage reporting the crash
Captain Rayment slowly moved the throttle forward, as agreed, and released the brakes; the plane began to accelerate, and radio officer Bill Rodgers radioed the control tower with the message "Zulu Uniform rolling". As the plane gathered speed, throwing up slush as it went, Captain Thain called out the velocities in ten-knot increments. At 85 knots, the port engine began to surge again, and he pulled back marginally on the port throttle before gingerly pushing it forward again. Once the plane reached 117 knots (217 km/h), he announced "V1", indicating that they had reached the velocity at which it was no longer safe to abort the take off, and Captain Rayment listened out for the call of "V2" (119 knots (220 km/h)), the minimum speed required to get the plane off the ground. However, when Thain glanced back down to the airspeed indicator, expecting the needle to continue to rise, it fluctuated at around 117 knots before suddenly dropping back down to 112 knots (207 km/h), and then 105 knots (194 km/h). Rayment shouted "Christ, we won't make it!", as Thain looked up to see what lay ahead of them.
The plane skidded off the end of the runway and, out of control, crashed into the fence surrounding the airport and then across a road before its port wing was torn off as it caught a house, home to a family of six. The father and eldest daughter were away at the time, and the mother and the other three children narrowly escaped with their lives as the house caught on fire. Part of the plane's tail was torn off too, before the left side of the cockpit hit a tree. The right side of the fuselage hit a wooden hut, inside which was a truck filled with tyres and fuel, which exploded. Twenty passengers died on board, and there were three subsequent deaths.
Upon seeing the flames licking up around the cockpit, Captain Thain feared that the burning fuel might make the aircraft explode and instructed his crew to evacuate the area. The stewardesses, Rosemary Cheverton and Margaret Bellis, were the first to leave through a blown-out emergency window in the galley, and they were followed by radio officer Bill Rodgers. Thain shouted to Rayment to get out of his seat, but Rayment was trapped in his seat by the crumpled fuselage. Rayment told Thain to go on without him. Thain clambered out of the galley window. Upon reaching the ground, he saw that flames were growing under the starboard wing, which still had an intact fuel tank containing 500 imperial gallons (2,300 L) of fuel. He shouted to his crew to get as far away as possible and climbed back into the aircraft to retrieve two handheld fire extinguishers, stopping momentarily to tell Rayment that he would be back for him when the fires had been dealt with.
Meanwhile, inside the passenger cabin, Manchester United goalkeeper Harry Gregg was regaining consciousness, thinking that he was dead. He felt blood running down his face and he "didn't dare put [his] hand up. [He] thought the top of [his] head had been taken off, like a hard boiled egg." Just above him, a shaft of light was pouring into the cabin, so Gregg made his way towards it and kicked the hole wide enough for him to escape through.
The eight Busby Babes who lost their lives in this air disaster:
Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards (survived the crash, but died in hospital 15 days later)
Mark Jones
David Pegg
Tommy Taylor
Liam "Billy" Whelan
In the memory of the crash a clock at Old Trafford has been stopped showing the exact time and date of the crash!!
All these eight players were to-be great players. Even though they are no more on this Earth physically, they will always remain alive in the hearts of all the Manchester United fans!!!
ALL HAIL MANCHESTER UNITED *THE BUSBY BABES WILL ALWAYS FLY HIGH*
GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED
AS THE REDS GO MARCHING ONNNN!!!!!
 |
| The Dreadful Crash |
The Munich air disaster took place on 6 February 1958, when British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in Munich, West Germany. On board the plane was the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the "Busby Babes", along with a number of supporters and journalists. Twenty of the 44 people on board the aircraft died in the crash. The injured, some of whom had been knocked unconscious, were taken to the Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich where three more died, resulting in a total of 23 fatalities with 21 survivors.
The team was returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, against Red Star Belgrade, but had to make a stop in Munich for refuelling, as a non-stop trip from Belgrade to Manchester was out of the "Elizabethan" class Airspeed Ambassador aircraft's range. After refuelling, the pilots, Captains James Thain and Kenneth Rayment, attempted to take off twice, but had to abandon both attempts due to boost surging in the port engine. Fearing that they would get too far behind schedule, Captain Thain rejected an overnight stay in Munich in favour of a third take-off attempt.
By the time of the third attempt, it had begun to snow, causing a layer of slush to build up at the end of the runway. When the aircraft hit the slush, it lost velocity, making take-off impossible. It ploughed through a fence past the end of the runway, before the port wing hit a nearby house and was torn off. Fearing that the aircraft might explode, Captain Thain set about getting the surviving passengers as far away as possible. Despite this, Manchester United goalkeeper Harry Gregg remained behind to pull survivors from the wreckage.
An investigation by the West German airport authorities originally blamed Captain Thain for the crash, claiming that he had failed to de-ice the wings of the aircraft, despite statements to the contrary from eyewitnesses. It was later established that the crash had, in fact, been caused by the build-up of slush on the runway, which had resulted in the aircraft being unable to achieve take-off velocity; Thain's name was eventually cleared in 1968, ten years after the incident.
At the time of the disaster, Manchester United were trying to become only the third club to win three successive English league titles; they were six points behind League leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers with 14 games to go. They were also holders of the Charity Shield and had just advanced into their second successive European Cup semi-final. The team were also on an 11 match unbeaten run, and had booked their place in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup two weeks previously, and were looking to reach the Final for the second successive season.
Captain Thain informed the station engineer, Bill Black, about the problem with the boost surging in the port engine, and Black suggested that since the immediate solution of opening the engine throttle more slowly had not worked, the only remaining option would be to hold the plane in Munich overnight for engine retuning. However, Thain was anxious to stay on schedule and suggested that opening the throttle even more slowly would suffice. This would mean that the plane would not achieve take-off velocity until further down the runway, but with the runway being almost 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long, Thain believed that this should not pose a problem. Therefore, despite the snow, the passengers were called back out to the plane just 15 minutes after leaving it.
A few of the players were not confident fliers, particularly Liam Whelan, who was heard to say "This may be death, but I'm ready" shortly before take off. Others, including Duncan Edwards, Tommy Taylor, Mark Jones, Eddie Colman and Frank Swift moved to the back of the plane, believing it to be safer. Once everyone was back on board, Captains Thain and Rayment got the plane moving again for a third take off attempt at 14:56. At 14:59, they reached the runway holding point, where they received clearance to line up ready for take-off. On the runway, the final cockpit checks were carried out and at 15:02, they were contacted to tell them that their take-off clearance would expire at 15:04. After discussion, the pilots agreed that they would attempt take-off, but they would keep a close watch on the instruments in case of any more surging in the engines. At 15:03, they contacted the control tower to inform them of their decision.
The plane skidded off the end of the runway and, out of control, crashed into the fence surrounding the airport and then across a road before its port wing was torn off as it caught a house, home to a family of six. The father and eldest daughter were away at the time, and the mother and the other three children narrowly escaped with their lives as the house caught on fire. Part of the plane's tail was torn off too, before the left side of the cockpit hit a tree. The right side of the fuselage hit a wooden hut, inside which was a truck filled with tyres and fuel, which exploded. Twenty passengers died on board, and there were three subsequent deaths.
Upon seeing the flames licking up around the cockpit, Captain Thain feared that the burning fuel might make the aircraft explode and instructed his crew to evacuate the area. The stewardesses, Rosemary Cheverton and Margaret Bellis, were the first to leave through a blown-out emergency window in the galley, and they were followed by radio officer Bill Rodgers. Thain shouted to Rayment to get out of his seat, but Rayment was trapped in his seat by the crumpled fuselage. Rayment told Thain to go on without him. Thain clambered out of the galley window. Upon reaching the ground, he saw that flames were growing under the starboard wing, which still had an intact fuel tank containing 500 imperial gallons (2,300 L) of fuel. He shouted to his crew to get as far away as possible and climbed back into the aircraft to retrieve two handheld fire extinguishers, stopping momentarily to tell Rayment that he would be back for him when the fires had been dealt with.
Meanwhile, inside the passenger cabin, Manchester United goalkeeper Harry Gregg was regaining consciousness, thinking that he was dead. He felt blood running down his face and he "didn't dare put [his] hand up. [He] thought the top of [his] head had been taken off, like a hard boiled egg." Just above him, a shaft of light was pouring into the cabin, so Gregg made his way towards it and kicked the hole wide enough for him to escape through.
The eight Busby Babes who lost their lives in this air disaster:
In the memory of the crash a clock at Old Trafford has been stopped showing the exact time and date of the crash!!
All these eight players were to-be great players. Even though they are no more on this Earth physically, they will always remain alive in the hearts of all the Manchester United fans!!!
ALL HAIL MANCHESTER UNITED *THE BUSBY BABES WILL ALWAYS FLY HIGH*
GLORY GLORY MAN UNITED
AS THE REDS GO MARCHING ONNNN!!!!!
