THE MUNICH AIR DISASTER 1958
THE DARKEST MOMENT IN MANCHESTER
When I started Senior Cycle I was informed by my History
teacher that I needed to complete a History topic of my choice. My teacher gave
us ideas on what type of project to choose such as disasters, major sports
events, significant people in history, etc. When we finished this discussion he
sent us off to choose a topic. I decided on ‘The Munich
My aims for this project were:
1. To complete a brief history of the club.
2. To look at
the historical overview of Manchester
3. To look in
detail at the disaster itself.
4. To look at the
immediate consequences of the disaster, and finally.
5. To look at
the long-term consequences of this crash.
Then I was told to get books on the topic. These were
obtained from the local library and included:
1. Hall,
David, Manchester’s Finest, Bantam Press, London, 2008.
2. Roberts, John, The Team That Wouldn’t Die,
Aurum Press, 1988
And I also had to get information from the internet.
The websites I chose were:
1. ‘MUNICH AIR DISASTER-WIKIPEDIA, THE FREE ENCYCLOPEDIA’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_air_disaster
2. ‘VICTIMS AND
SURVIVORS OF THE 1958 MUNICH AIR DISASTER http://www.thebusbybabes.com/victims/victims.htm
3.’TRIUMPH AND
DESPAIR:THE MUNICH
4.’MUNICH
Having found information, I then drew up a plan for
the essay which was then drafted up using Microsoft Word. Each draft was
amended with corrections and additional information being added.
THE ESSAY
Manchester United Football Club was
established as Newton Newton Manchester Central and Manchester Celtic were being discussed until an Italian
woman Louis Rocca came up with Manchester Manchester
Ernest Mangnall was appointed manager for the
1902/03 season after James West resigned on the 28th of September
1902. In this season the club broke the British transfer record when they
bought Charlie Roberts, a centre-half from Grimsby Town
This
helped them finish third place in the next season just a point away from
promotion. Manchester
By 1911 they had moved to their new home ground ‘Old Trafford’ and after
losing manager Ernest Mangnall to Manchester
City Manchester City Maine Road
After the war ended in 1945, Manchester
However
as 1958 rolled in trouble lay on the horizon.
THE DISASTER
The Manchester United
squad were returning from a European clash on the 6th of February
1958 with Red Star Belgrade in Yugoslavia Belgrade had a one hour delay as United player Johnny
Berry had misplaced his passport, then the plane made a scheduled stop in Munich
The due departure from Munich
“"I told
Ken that if we got boost surging again, I would control the throttles… I tapped
his hand and he moved it. He called `Full power' and I checked the dials and
said: `Full power'".[3]
The third
attempt was at 3:04pm and the plain couldn’t gain enough height and crashed
into the fence that was surrounding the airport and then into an abandoned
house.
THE DISASTER
The crash was
initially blamed on a pilot’s error but it was later found out that it was
caused by the build-up of slush at the end of the runway from the snow. During
the take off, the aircraft had attained a speed 217 km/h but the speed dropped
rapidly to 192 km/h which was too slow for flight, and as they were at the end
of the runway there was no room to abort the flight. The German authorities
tried to place the blame on the pilot claiming that he took off without
de-icing the wings of the plane and also claiming that it was the only grounds
for the accident.
“"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".[4]
Despite several witnesses differing
that this wasn’t the case. Their case was based on a photograph of the
aircraft, published by several newspapers, before the take off which showed ice
and snow on the wings before take off. The photograph was later examined and
decided that no snow or ice could be seen. The claims on Thain were dragged on
until 1968 when he was finally cleared of any responsibility.
THE LAST PICTURE OF THE TEAM TOGETHER
BEFORE THE DIASTER
Full
back Bill Foulkes said:
“We’d
been playing cards for most of the flight from
David
Pegg remembered:
`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. ".[6]
Seven
of Manchester
Victims of the crash are players like Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie
Colman, Duncan Edwards (who later died in hospital due to injuries), Mark Jones,
David Pegg, Tommy Taylor, Liam Whelan and others like Walter Crickmer, Bert
Whalley, Tom Curry, Alf Clarke, Don Davies, George Follows, Tom Jackson, Archie
Ledbrooke, Henry Rose, Eric Thompson, Frank Swift, Kenneth Rayment, Bela
Milkos, Willie Satinoff, Tom Cable.
