Snow at Munich: The Last Take-off of the Busby Babes
Two failed take-offs, a fuel stop that should have taken an hour, and a runway turning to slush — by the third attempt, the odds had already changed.
By the afternoon of 6 February 1958, Manchester United's Airspeed Ambassador sat on the ground at Munich-Riem Airport, refuelling after a European Cup quarter-final in Belgrade. The Elizabethan-class aircraft could not fly non-stop from Yugoslavia to England, so the stop in Munich was routine — a pause before the short hop home carrying the 'Busby Babes', their manager Matt Busby, journalists and supporters, 44 people in all.
After refuelling, pilots James Thain and Kenneth Rayment taxied out for take-off. As the engines opened up, the left engine surged unevenly, and Thain aborted the run. They tried again. The same boost surge appeared, and again the take-off was abandoned. Twice now the Ambassador had rolled down the runway and stopped short of the sky.
A decision had to be made. Staying overnight in Munich to have the aircraft properly checked was an option, but Thain feared falling too far behind the club's tight schedule of league fixtures — United still had 14 First Division games to play that season, sitting six points behind leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers. Rather than delay, Thain chose to attempt take-off a third time that same afternoon.
By now, snow was falling steadily over Munich-Riem. It settled on the runway and mixed with the ground moisture, forming a layer of slush that pooled toward the far end of the strip. Nobody de-iced the wings — eyewitnesses later said conditions did not call for it — but the slush on the runway itself was the real danger no one fully reckoned with.
The aircraft accelerated for the third time. It never gained enough speed to lift cleanly into the air. Hitting the slush dragged at the wheels, robbing the plane of the momentum it needed. Past the end of the runway, it ploughed through a boundary fence. The left wing sheared off as it struck a house beyond the airport perimeter.
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