Manchester United 1958-Part 1 of 3

Manchester United 1958-Part 1 of 3 by Robert (Bob) Moore © 2015 I remember the 6th February, in 1958, the day before my 16 birthday, everything was great I was working at the CIS, an Insurance mob in town I’d finished work at Deansgate, and I was heading home I joined the queue at Market Street, and I noticed some were crying they were talking in hushed tones, about some people dying then I saw the headlines, of the paper a man was reading what’s this I thought, that can’t be true, I could not catch the meaning UNITED DISASTER. GRIM FIGHT FOR LIFE, is what the headline read this could not happen to Man U, were any of them dead these were thoughts ran through my mind, as tough men cried around me I caught the bus, and hurried home, that’s where I felt I should be The Busby Babes were flying home, from their game in the Euro Cup they’d drawn with Red Star in Belgrade, which meant they would move up to play Milan in the Semi’s, at Old Trafford their home ground but now that fate had played its hand, that meant nothing to those around They had flown out on the Monday, Lord Burghley was the plane and then on the Wednesday, it would fly them home again because the plane could not carry, all the fuel it needed it landed at Munich Airport, and re-fuelling then proceeded At 14:19 GMT, the plane was cleared for take-off everyone was ready, and the Captain let the brake off the take-off was abandoned, when a gauge was fluctuating and the engine did not sound right, when they were accelerating They tried a second take-off, just 3 minutes later but had to call it off, problems with the accelerator the passengers then left the plane, and retreated to the lounge heavy snow was falling now, the plane may not leave the ground. Duncan Edwards sent a telegram, to let his landlady know the flights have all been grounded, because of all the snow The Captain told the engineer, the problems with their flight the engineer said I suggest, you should all stay the night I think that we can make it said the pilot Captain Thain and 15 minutes later, they were all back on the plane if we use the throttle slowly, we can build to take off speed we have a lot of runway, much more than we should need The less confident of fliers, and Billy Whelan he was one said “!’m ready if this means my death”, and then it was done Duncan Edwards and some others, had moved back into the plane they believed it would be safer, if something happened once again a decision now was needed, and soon one had been made, they were going for a take-off, and everybody prayed The pilot slowly moved the throttle, and then released the brake As the plane moved down the runway, and began to accelerate “Zulu Uniform is rolling”, was their message to the tower it threw up slush, and increased speed, as they slowly built up power the Captain called velocity, and then he heard the engine falter he pulled back a bit, then forward slow, til he heard the heartbeat alter V1 was called at 117, take-off could not be aborted V2 was next at 119, the least to get us started then he could lift us off the ground, and climb towards the heaven however it was not to be, the speed stayed round 117 velocity dropped to 112, and the engine could not take it the plane began to slip and slide, they knew they would not make it” it skidded off the runway, and crashed into a fence then crossed a road, and hit a house, the feeling was intense Continued:- part two