Today marks 65 years since the tragic Munich Air Disaster, where a slush-covered runway caused the death of eight members of Manchester United, and 15 other United employees, journalists, cabin crew and friends of Matt Busby. Two of the eight members of Manchester United who lost their lives, Eddie Colman and Geoff Bent, were born in Salford, and would go on to be memorialised in within the local community after the tragedy.
February 6 1958, 44 people, most of which included the Manchester United football team, the ‘Busby Babes’, and associates boarded British European Airways Flight 609, before refuelling at Munich-Riem airport in Germany. The team were returning from a European Cup match in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia).
After take-off from Munich back to Manchester was cleared, pilots James Thain and Kenneth Rayment attempted two failed departures, before a third threw up slush and caused the plane to skid to the end of the runway. Crashing into a fence, and across a road, the plane’s port wing was torn off by a house, which promptly caught fire; its tail was caught on a tree; and the right side of the fuselage hit a wooden hut, inside which was a truck filled with tyres and fuel, which exploded.
Of the 44 occupants, 23 people died, including pilot Kenneth Rayment, players: Geoff Bent, Roger Byrne, Eddie Colman, Duncan Edwards, Mark Jones, David Pegg, Tommy Taylor and Billy Whelan along with Manchester United staff and journalists. 19 people were also injured.
21 people survived the crash.
Salford’s Geoff Bent (Irlams o’ th’ Height) and Eddie Colman (Ordsall) legacy’s have continued to survive in the 65 years since the crash.
Bent, whose daughter was only five months old at the time of the crash, has been memorialised through TV contributions form his widow, Marion, to celebrate the 40 year anniversary of the disaster.
Colman, who made 108 appearances for United, was the youngest victim of the crash. An accommodation building of Salford University, has been named after the player, John Lester and Eddie Colman Court.
65 years on, the Salford community has come together to mourn the loss of two of the city’s most prestigious footballers, alongside the other 21 victims of the Munich Air Disaster. Social media is awash with tribute, with groups such as ‘In Memory fo the Munich Air Disaster’ and ‘We Grew Up in Salford’ sharing their memories of the stars.
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