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    The Munich Air Disaster – The True Story behind the Fatal 1958 Crash: The Night 8 of Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ Died
    Unavailable
    The Munich Air Disaster – The True Story behind the Fatal 1958 Crash: The Night 8 of Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ Died
    Unavailable
    The Munich Air Disaster – The True Story behind the Fatal 1958 Crash: The Night 8 of Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ Died
    Ebook273 pages5 hours

    The Munich Air Disaster – The True Story behind the Fatal 1958 Crash: The Night 8 of Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ Died

    By Stephen Morrin

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Uncover the true story behind the tragic Munich air disaster of 6 February 1958, the night that 8 of the Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ died

    They were players about to become legends, the famous Manchester United ‘Busby Babes’, the back-to-back title winning side of 1956 and 1957 on the hunt for a third successive league win and seeking glory in the European Champions Cup. With an average age of 22, the ‘Busby Babes’ were the cream of English football and seemed destined to dominate English and European football for years to come.

    Instead, on 6 February 1958, they were tragically cut down in their prime. On a fuel stopover on their way home from a Champions Cup fixture against Red Star Belgrade, British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third attempt to take off in a blizzard from an ice- and slush-covered runway at Munich Airport.

    The fatal crash claimed the lives of 23 passengers and crew, including 8 Manchester United footballers. 7 United players were killed instantly in the crash. Three weeks later, the legendary Duncan Edwards died in hospital while two other players, Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry, were injured so badly that they never played again.

    What caused the plane to careen off the runway? Why did experienced pilot Captain James Thain insist on taking off in such treacherous conditions? Why were the Manchester United management under pressure to return to England as soon as possible?

    The German inquiry blamed the accident on pilot error. However, Stephen Morrin’s The Munich Air Disaster establishes beyond any question that this was not so. Based on his enormous technical knowledge of aircraft accident investigation, years of research and interviews with those involved, Morrin shows that the pilot, Captain James Thain, performed heroically and was shamefully treated by the aviation authorities for many years.

    The crash at Munich airport swept away a generation of gifted footballers including Tommy Taylor, Roger Byrne, David Pegg, and Liam Whelan from Dublin. Stephen Morrin’s authoritative book is a story of tragedy, a pilot’s heroism in adversity, legal treachery and one of the defining moments in the Manchester United story. It was a sporting disaster that gave birth to a legend — a legend which fifty years later shows no sign of diminishing.

    The Munich Air Disaster: Table of Contents
      Introduction
    1. In the Beginning
    2. Birth of the Babes
    3. Kid Dynamite
    4. Passport to Europe
    5. The Last Season
    6. End Game
    7. Prelude to Disaster
    8. Runway
    9. Blood in the Snow
    10. Dealing with Disaster
    11. Aftermath
    12. Scapegoat
    13. Captain Thain’s Ordeal
    14. Fifty Years On
      15. Epilogue
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGill Books
    Release dateSep 25, 2007
    ISBN9780717167678
    Unavailable
    The Munich Air Disaster – The True Story behind the Fatal 1958 Crash: The Night 8 of Manchester United’s ‘Busby Babes’ Died
    Author

    Stephen Morrin

    Stephen R. Morrin is an aviation historian and author based in Cheshire. His previous books include The Day the Sky Fell Down, which deals with the Stockport air disaster of 1967.

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    Reviews for The Munich Air Disaster – The True Story behind the Fatal 1958 Crash

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    • 5/5
      Utterly tragic story of how one of England's most famous football clubs was devastated by an air crash. In 1958 Manchester United were arguably the best club side in the world. They had won two straight league championships and were on track for a third, and had just succesfully made the semi-finals of the European Cup by beating Red Star Belgrade. Busby's Babes, so named for their youth and the manager who had brought them together, Matt Busby, were expected to dominate football for the next decade. Stars like Duncan Edwards, Liam Whelan and Tommy Taylor were expected to have long and dominant club and national careers in front of them, but that all tragically ended when their Airspeed Elizabethan crashed on its third attempt to lift off from an icy Munich airport. 23 died, including 8 of the players. However in some ways the aftermath was even darker than the tragedy itself, as the Germans left no stone unturned in blaming the crash on pilot David Thain, who was sacked, and spent the rest of his life trying to prove his innocence. Even worse, Manchester United itself treated some of the surviving players abominably, ruthlessly discarding those whom it no longer considered useful. A great book that combines two of my great loves - sport and aircraft. It is absolutely compelling reading.