The Munich Air Disaster

The Munich air disaster occurred 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, West Germany. On the plane was the Manchester United football team, along with supporters and journalists. 20 of the 44 on the aircraft died.

The injured, some unconscious, were taken to the Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich where three more died, resulting in 23 fatalities with 21 survivors.

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The football team was returning from a European Cup match in

Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia) against Red Star Belgrade.

The flight stopped to refuel in Munich because a non-stop flight from

Belgrade to Manchester was out of the Airspeed Ambassador

aircraft's range. After refuelling, pilots James Thain and Kenneth

Rayment twice abandoned take off because of boost surging in the

left engine.

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Fearing they would get too far behind schedule, Captain Thain

rejected an overnight stay in Munich in favour of a third take off

attempt. By then, snow was falling, causing a layer of slush at the

end of the runway. After the aircraft hit the slush, it ploughed

through a fence beyond the end of the runway and the left wing

was torn off after hitting a house. Fearing the aircraft might

explode, Thain began evacuating passengers while Manchester

United goalkeeper Harry Gregg helped pull survivors from the

wreckage.

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An investigation by West German airport authorities originally

blamed Thain, saying he did not de-ice the aircraft's wings,

despite eyewitness statements to the contrary. It was later

established that the crash was caused by slush on the runway,

which slowed the plane too much to take off.

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Thain was cleared in 1968, ten years after the incident.

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Source: wikipedia.com

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