Remembering the “Busby Babes”

The Busby Babes

The Busby Babes – footballing legends

The “Busby Babes” were the golden boys of English football in the late 1950s. They were at the heart of the Manchester United team which was managed by Matt Busby, and they showed huge potential and promise. Busby had made a point of including the young players in the team which had become so successful.

The Busby babes had become household names. Their star was Duncan Edwards, “almost a living legend” as one pressman described him. Tommy Taylor, originally from Barnsley, had scored 131 goals in 191 games for Manchester United and 16 goals in his 19 England games. David Pegg, an England international winger, Mark Jones the centre-back, Geoff Bent, midfielder Eddie Colman, Billy (Liam) Whelan, Albert Scanlon, Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes, Harry Gregg, Johnny Berry, Jackie Blanchflower, Ken Morgans, Dennis Viollet, Ray Wood and captain Roger Byrne were all household names.

Manchester United had been playing in the European Cup in the 1957-58 season, and had progressed to the quarter finals, playing Red Star Belgrade. Goals from Bobby Charlton and Eddie Colman had given United a 2-1 victory in the first leg against the Yugoslavian team.

On 4th February, 1958, the team flew out from Manchester to Belgrade in a chartered Airspeed AS57 Ambasador of British European Airways (BEA). (The aircraft was known as the “Elizabethan Class” in BEA service). On board were club officials and sports journalists.

The match in Belgrade, on 5th February, ended in a 3-3 draw, with two goals from Charlton and one from Viollet, but United went through on aggregate to the semi finals. This was the last time the famed Busby Babes would ever play as a team.

On 6th February, the BEA Ambassador G-ALZU “Lord Burleigh” collected the Manchester United party from Belgrade to fly them home to Manchester. The spirits aboard the plane were high as players enjoyed playing cards and relaxing. The aircraft was to make a stop in Munich to refuel before flying the final leg home.

Disaster in Munich

Airspeed Ambasador G-ALZU at Munich

At around 2pm, the aircraft, with Captain James Thain and Kenneth Rayment at the controls, was ready to take off. At 2:31, Munich Tower was told that the aircraft was on its way down the runway when the engines developed problems – boost surging, which happens when a rich mix of fuel causes over-acceleration. Take off was abandoned and the aircraft came to a stop.

At 2:34, another take off was attempted, and the same problem occurred. The passengers returned to the waiting area, whilst the pilots discussed the problem with an engineer. He informed the pilots that the surging was a common problem at airports such as Munich, owing to the altitude and thinner air.

At 3:03, the aircraft made a third attempt to take off. The aircraft’s speed increased to V1 speed, which means that the pilot is committed to take off, and then suddenly the speed dropped, with not enough runway left to be able to stop the aircraft.

The Ambassador left the runway, crashed into a house and later ran into a shed containing fuel, which exploded.

Harry Gregg helped to rescue passengers from the wreckage, and survivors were taken to the Rechts de Isar hospital in Munich.

There were 43 passengers on the aircraft that afternoon, 23 were killed or died afterwards in hospital. Among the dead were eight of the Busby Babes: Roger Byrne, Mark Jones, Tommy Taylor, Eddie Colman, Liam Whelan, David Pegg, Geoff Bent and Duncan Edwards, who died 15 days after the crash from the injuries he had sustained.

Other victims were: Walter Crickmer – Manchester United club secretary, Bert Whalley – chief coach, Tom Curry – trainer, Alf Clarke, Don Davies, George Follows, Tom Jackson, Archie Ledbrooke, Henry Rose, Eric Thompson and Frank Swift -journalists, Kenneth Rayment – co pilot, Bela Miklos – travel agent, Willie Satinoff – supporter and Tom Cable – steward.

Manager Matt Busby was seriously injured and was twice given the last rites.

Manchester, and the whole country, mourned the Busby Babes – eight young men killed in their prime, and the game of football was robbed of truly great players.

The cause of the crash was found to be a build up of slush on the snowy runway, which hampered the aircraft’s acceleration and so prevented take off speed being reached or sustained. Initially a build up of ice on the wings was blamed but this was found not to be the case. Captain Thain did not fly airliners again.

Today, 6th February 2008, people gathered at the Munich crash site (the airport is no longer in use) to remember the victims of the worst tragedy to hit an English football team.