The Munich Air Disaster
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 7 February 2018
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In February 1958, eight players from Manchester United’s famous “Busby Babes” team were among those killed in a plane crash at Munich airport. Goalkeeper Harry Gregg survived the disaster and went back into the wreckage several times to save lives. Simon Watts hears his story.
Photo: Plane wreckage at Munich airport (AFP/Getty Images)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless |
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| 0:21.0 | And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less |
| 0:24.9 | searching and a lot more watching listen on BBC sounds hello and thank you for |
| 0:30.8 | downloading witness from the BBC World Service with me Simon Watts. |
| 0:35.0 | Today I'm taking you back to February 1958 when eight players from Manchester United's famous Busby Babes team were among those killed in a plane crash at Munich Airport. |
| 0:46.1 | On the 6th of February in 1958, one of the greatest football teams in history was wiped out. |
| 0:59.0 | Here is the news. So far we know there are 23 survivors after Manchester United's air crash at Munich this |
| 1:06.2 | afternoon. |
| 1:07.2 | The aircraft was a twin-engineer Elizabethan on charter from BEA. |
| 1:12.0 | All I remember is upside down and round, seeing sparks, feeling something hit the top of my head. |
| 1:18.8 | And then it was all complete, just darkness and I thought it was dead. |
| 1:23.0 | It had reached Munich and was just taking off for home in poor weather when the crash came at three o'clock. |
| 1:30.0 | There was no crying, there wasn't one human sound. And for a split second, I thought, |
| 1:35.0 | I'm the only one alive here. |
| 1:37.0 | Northern Ireland International Harry Gregg |
| 1:40.0 | was the goalkeeper for Manchester United. His team, nicknamed the Busby Babes, were a group |
| 1:46.1 | of incredibly talented young players assembled by the Manchester United manager Matt Busby. |
... |
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