Jump to content

Munich Air Disaster


old man emu

Recommended Posts

64 years ago, on February 6, 1958, British European Airways flight 609, a charter flight bound for Manchester carrying 44 passengers, crashed on takeoff from Munich Airport. Just before 15:00hrs, the passengers boarded the aircraft and the crew received takeoff clearance. The plane accelerated and reached 117kts (V1, the speed at which it is no longer safe to abort the takeoff) and soon reached 119kts, at which point the speed stopped rising and then began to decrease. Moments later, the aircraft ran off the end of the runway, crashing through the perimeter fence and skidding into a house, which tore off the left wing. In the cabin, Harry Greg, the team’s goalkeeper, managed to save some of the passengers, including Bobby Charlton. 

 

20 people died in the crash, and three died later in hospital from their injuries. Eight Manchester United players were killed on that day in 1958,  along with club staff and journalists who were following the team. Some of the world’s greatest football players were killed. Manchester United Football Club lost eight star players and would take years to reform. 

The club finally realized its European dream when in 1968, 10 years after that tragic day, survivor and manager, Matt Busby took the team to Wembley and won the European Cup final

 

  • Informative 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

No, an Airspeed Ambassador. I came across the above story while I was looking for stuff about the Ambassador, which was also known as the Elizabethan (probably in honour of Elizabeth II). Butler Air Transport imported three, but while they were OK for the job, there were problems with landing grounds - pavement strength issues. They allowed Butlers to fly into Melbourne and Adelaide which brought them into conflict with Reg Ansett.

 

Finally they were outdone by the Vickers Viscount which ran turbo-props and were a bit faster. Butler sold them back to England.

 

The initial investigation of the Munich Tragedy put the blame on the pilot for trying to take off with ice-covered wings, but that was eventually shown to be a false accusation. It seems that the engines failed to deliver climb power after rotation and after V1 so there was no stopping the plane for an aborted takeoff. It might not have been so bad had it not hit a fuel shed as it was sliding along the ground.

ELIZABETHAN IN AUSTRALIAN SKIES .pdf

  • Thanks 1
  • Informative 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A similar thing happened in Russia a few years ago when a Yak-42 ran off the end of the runway and wiped out one of their top ice hockey teams. There was a conflict of interest between the co-pilot (with barbiturates in his system) trying to abort, and the pilot (with much vodka in his system) trying to take off.  According to the CVR, the last thing the co-pilot said to the captain was "F*** you!"  A bit of dodgy paperwork involved as well; it turned out neither were qualified on the Yak-42. Just another day in Russian aviation.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...