On the afternoon of 6 February 1958, at Munich-Riem airport, British European Airways Flight 609 attempted its third takeoff from a runway covered in slush. The aircraft did not achieve the speed required to leave the ground. It ran off the end of the runway, broke through a fence, and struck a house. Twenty-three of the forty-four people on board did not survive the day. Eight of the dead were Manchester United players.
Episode Six is about what happened at Munich, and what happened after. The captain Roger Byrne, dead on impact aged twenty-eight. Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor, Bill Whelan, Geoff Bent — six more players lost in the wreckage. Duncan Edwards fighting for his life for fifteen days at the Rechts der Isar hospital before dying on 21 February. Walter Crickmer, the secretary who had kept the club alive since 1919, dead. The coaches Bert Whalley and Tom Curry, dead. Eight of the nine sports journalists on the flight, dead. Matt Busby fighting for his life in a hospital bed in Germany, given the last rites twice.
We follow the extraordinary courage of Harry Gregg, the goalkeeper who went back into the burning wreckage to pull survivors clear — including a mother and her baby daughter, Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet, and Matt Busby himself. We follow Jimmy Murphy — who had missed the trip because he was managing Wales to their only World Cup qualification the same evening — returning to Old Trafford on the morning of 7 February and finding himself the manager of a football club whose first team had been destroyed. And we follow the makeshift Manchester United side that took the field thirteen days after the crash, on 19 February 1958, against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup, in front of a silent, weeping crowd of sixty-three thousand — and won three-nil.
The season ended with an FA Cup Final at Wembley, a two-nil defeat by Bolton, and Matt Busby watching from the stands, well enough to have travelled but not yet well enough to work. The rebuild would take him a decade.
Player of the Era: Roger Byrne — the captain. Twenty-eight years old. Three league titles. Thirty-three consecutive appearances for England and the leading candidate to succeed Billy Wright as national captain. His wife Joy was pregnant with their first child at the time of the crash. Neither of them knew. Roger Byrne Junior was born seven and a half months after his father's death, and never met him.
Come on, United.
Research Sources
Wikipedia: Munich air disaster — 6 February 1958, BEA Flight 609, Airspeed Ambassador G-ALZU, third takeoff attempt at 3:04 pm, slush on runway as cause, 44 people on board, 20 dead at scene plus 3 in hospital, 21 survivors, Captains Thain and Rayment, boost surging on port engine, house on far side of perimeter fence
Wikipedia: List of Munich air disaster victims — the eight players who died (Byrne, Colman, Jones, Pegg, Taylor, Whelan, Bent, Edwards), the three staff (Bert Whalley, Tom Curry, Walter Crickmer), the eight journalists including Frank Swift and Tom Jackson
Grokipedia / Britannica: Munich air disaster — Harry Gregg's rescue of Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet, a mother and baby, Jackie Blanchflower, Matt Busby; Busby given last rites twice; Duncan Edwards died 21 February; Johnny Berry and Blanchflower never played again
Wikipedia: Jimmy Murphy — missed the trip due to Wales v Israel World Cup qualifier in Cardiff on 5 February; took over as acting manager; put together makeshift team
Stretty News / United in Focus: The 19 February 1958 Sheffield Wednesday team — Gregg, Foulkes, Greaves, Goodwin, Cope, Crowther, Webster, Ernie Taylor, Dawson, Pearson, Brennan. Signings of Ernie Taylor from Blackpool and Stan Crowther from Aston Villa. Crowther's transfer completed one hour before kickoff. FA dispensation for the cup-tied Crowther.
ManUtd.com: 1958 match programme with blank team sheet and "United will go on..." message. Michael Parkinson's "demonstration of grief so profound" quote.
Wikipedia: 1957-58 Manchester United F.C. season — ninth-place league finish, FA Cup Final loss 2-0 to Bolton (Nat Lofthouse two goals), European Cup semi-final loss to AC Milan 5-2 on aggregate
Wikipedia / ManUtd.com: Roger Byrne — birth 8 September 1929 Gorton, Ryder Brow Boys Club, National Service RAF, debut November 1951 vs Liverpool 0-0, converted from inside-forward to full-back, three league titles, 33 consecutive England appearances, married Joy Cooper June 1957, wife pregnant at time of death (Roger Byrne Jr born 22 September 1958)
Research Sources
Spartacus Educational — detailed early Newton Heath history including the Three Crowns pub changing room and North Road ground
Manchester United Investor Relations History Page — founding date, league entry in 1892-93, Old Trafford move in 1910
American Red Devils / Manchester United History: Heathens Era (1878–1902) — the John Henry Davies / Major the dog story in detail
Football and the First World War — detailed account of Newton Heath's progression through the Combination and Football Alliance
Britannica: Manchester United — confirmed founding year, first league title, Old Trafford
Key Dates for This Episode
1878 — Newton Heath LYR Football Club founded by Carriage and Wagon department of Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
November 20, 1880 — First recorded match: Newton Heath 0, Bolton Wanderers reserves 6
1883–84 — First entry to Lancashire Cup; lost 7-2 to Blackburn Olympic reserves
1885 — Lancashire Cup won: beat Manchester FC 2-1 in front of 8,000
1886 — First FA Cup entry; knocked out in first round by Fleetwood Rangers
1888 — Football League application rejected; joined The Combination as founding member
1892 — Elected to Football League First Division when Alliance merged with Football League
1893 — Relegated from First Division after Test Match defeat
1894 — Drop "LYR" suffix; also sign Billy Meredith from ...
