Munich: On February 6, 1958, an unfortunate incident shook the footballing world. A plane carrying Manchester United players crashed into the thick snow at the Munich airport. A total of 23 players, including eight Manchester United footballers lost their lives as a result of the plane crash.
The tragedy occurred when the team was returning back home from a European Cup game and it rocked the football world as one of the most elite clubs in the sport lost their players as well as club staff and a few journalists.
Munich Air Disaster; What happened on the dark day?
In early 1958, Manchester United reached the semifinal of the European Cup after outplaying Red Star Belgrade. They went on to win the title and were set to return home after the glory.
The next day, squad, club staff, journalists and a number of other passengers got on to their British European Airways plane at Belgrade airport to fly back to Manchester. At around 1:15 PM, the plane - a six-year-old Airspeed Ambassador 2, took a brief halt for refueling in Munich. Everything was going as scheduled till that point, but the unfortunate incident took place as things started going south afterwards.
After the refuelling was done, the crew attempted to take off twice but they failed to so due to the engine problems.
By the time of the third attempt, it started snowing heavily. It looked likely that the flight might be delayed until the next day but the crew was keen on sticking to the schedule and so the third attempt was made at taking off.
2/ The Busby Babes & Munich Air Disaster (1958)
— Kingsley _Hub (@Unitedking_99) May 31, 2025
Under Sir Matt Busby, a youthful team known as the " busby babes" emerged. tragedy struck on february 6, 1958, when a plane crash in munich claimed 23 lives, including eight players. pic.twitter.com/6N989ylixw
By now, the continuous snowfall had caused the runway to be engulfed in a thick layer of slush. It slowed the plane and it could not reach a high enough speed to take off from the ground. The aircraft skidded at the end of the runaway and crashed straight into a nearby house passing through the fence surrounding the airport.
The house caught fire and the place was in thick flames soon causing the death of the passengers in the tragedy. 20 passengers died immediately while three passed away in the hospital. Seven United players died at the spot while the eighth, Duncan Edwards, died in the hospital 15 days later.
The story of survivors saving passengers
While 23 people died, 21 survived. The survivors tried to save as many as passengers they could and also had success in saving Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet and goalkeeper Harry Gregg. Also pilot James Thain survived but co-pilot Captain Kenneth Rayment passed away.
On this day in 1958, 23 people lost their lives in the Munich Air disaster.#FlowersOfManchester#RIP pic.twitter.com/VKc3XBIiTC
— Football Factly (@FootballFactly) February 6, 2015
Gregg was praised for his brave act of dragging team-mates Sir Bobby and Viollet out of the burning wreckage. Not only this, he also saved a 20-month-old baby and her badly injured pregnant mother- Vera Lukic.
Rebuilding the team
United manager Matt Busby nearly rebuilt the team after this mishap in an incredible manner. Within just five years, his side emerged triumphant in the FA Cup and sparked an impressive run in the 60s which included a couple of league titles.
