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. The aircraft was carrying the Manchester United football team, nicknamed the "Busby Babes", along with supporters and journalists. There were 44 people on board, 20 of whom died at the scene. 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.

The team was returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, having eliminated Red Star Belgrade to advance to the semi-finals of the competition. The flight stopped to refuel in Munich because a non-stop flight from Belgrade to Manchester was beyond the range of the "Elizabethan"-class Airspeed Ambassador. After refuelling, pilots James Thain and Kenneth Rayment twice abandoned take-off because of boost surging in the left engine. Fearing they would fall too far behind schedule, Captain Thain rejected an overnight stay in Munich in favour of a third take-off attempt. By that time, snow was falling, causing a layer of slush to form at the end of the runway. After hitting the slush, the aircraft ploughed through a fence beyond the end of the runway and the left wing was torn off when it struck a house. Fearing the aircraft might explode, Thain began evacuating passengers while Manchester United goalkeeper Harry Gregg helped pull survivors from the wreckage.

An investigation by West German airport authorities originally blamed Thain, saying he did not de-ice the aircraft's wings, despite eyewitness statements indicating that de-icing was unnecessary. It was later established that the crash was caused by the slush on the runway, which slowed the plane too much to enable take-off. Thain was cleared in 1968, ten years after the incident.

Manchester United were aiming to become the third club to win three successive Football League titles; they were six points behind League leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers with 14 games still to play. They also held the FA Charity Shield and had just advanced into their second successive European Cup semi-finals. The team had not been beaten for 11 matches. The crash not only derailed the team's title ambitions that year but also destroyed the nucleus of what promised to be one of the greatest generations of players in English football history. It took ten years for the club to recover after the tragedy. Busby rebuilt the team and won the European Cup in 1968 with a new generation of "Babes".
Q919252
British European Airways
ORG
Q1047031
slush
Concept
Q372317
Munich-Riem Airport
LOC
Q18656
Manchester United
ORG
Q2736
football
Concept
Q373507
Busby Babes
MEDIA
Q883813
Rechts der Isar Hospital
LOC
Q309318
European Cup
EVE
Q3711
Belgrade
LOC
Q83286
Yugoslavia
LOC
Q173009
Red Star Belgrade
ORG
Q409195
Airspeed Ambassador
MISC
Q23683373
James Thain
PER
Q24718706
Kenneth Rayment
PER
Q546107
Harry Gregg
PER
Q213347
Football League
ORG
Q19500
Wolverhampton Wanderers
ORG
Q2045239
FA Charity Shield
EVE
Q18756
European Cup
EVE
Q426678
1968
EVE
Q308923
Munich air disaster
LOC
1958-02-06T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
6 February 1958
DATE
1968-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1968
DATE
1968-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1968
DATE
+609^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
609
NUMBER
+44^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
44
NUMBER
+20^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
20
NUMBER
+23^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
23
NUMBER
+21^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
21
NUMBER
+14^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
14
NUMBER
+11^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
11
NUMBER
point in time
sport
number of deaths
participant
sport
sport
headquarters location