In the aftermath, there was hope he would be able to continue a career that had seen him lift two league titles and score 27 goals, but his injuries proved too severe. He suffered a fractured pelvis, multiple limb fractures and crushed kidneys, and he was forced into an early retirement.
Despite the role he played in a trophy-laden period for United, he was evicted from club accommodation when it became clear he would not play again, and went on to pursue a life as a businessman. He ran a sweets shop and then worked with a bookmaker, but would find true post-football success as an after-dinner speaker. Three of those men wore United's iconic number seven shirt, like Chilean Alexis Sanchez now, but Johnny Berry wore it before them all.
He arrived from the Midlands with a big reputation and he lived up to it immediately. Berry was a quick and skilful player who regularly made the right flank his own over the course of appearances for the club, in which he notched 45 goals.
In an era blessed with some of England's most celebrated wingers in the form of Stanley Matthews and Tom Finney, the Aldershot-born Berry still managed to impress. But like Blanchflower, he was only a reserve when United flew to what was then Yugoslavia to take on Red Star just four months before his 32nd birthday. And like Blanchflower, severe head injuries meant he was never able to play again.
Why had it crashed? The German investigative authorities portrayed here as stern villains claim the pilot, Thain, hadn't de-iced his wings before the accident.
And it was true. He hadn't. In any case, ice on the wing wouldn't have caused the sudden drop in speed. Thain argued that there was runway contamination. The take off roll was longer than most and had run into slush towards the end of the runway. Later evidence supported the argument, and it was an important one. Ice on the wings, the British pilot was responsible.
Slush on the runway, the German airport authorities were responsible. It doesn't seem to have occurred to anyone that there might have been more than one cause for the accident. Fain was exonerated by British European Airlines many years later but he never flew again. In much of the press, and even today, he received much of the blame. It's easy to understand why.
Fain has a name and a face that can be shown on television and in newspapers. Slush does not. Details Edit. Release date December 29, Canada. Seven Manchester United players died at the scene, and an eighth, Duncan Edwards, died 15 days later in hospital. Survivors attempted to save as many passengers as they could, with Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet and goalkeeper Harry Gregg among those saved.
The pilot James Thain survived but co-pilot Captain Kenneth Rayment died from his injuries five weeks later. Gregg is heralded for his role in not only dragging team-mates Sir Bobby and Viollet out of the burning wreckage by their waistbands, but also by saving a month-old baby and her badly injured, pregnant mother - Vera Lukic, the wife of a Yugoslavian diplomat.
The goalkeeper returned twice to the burning fuselage to rescue people, and his bravery has been formally hailed in Germany and Serbia, home to the rescued Lukic. An initial investigation blamed Thain, and German airport authorities attempted legal action against him. However, he was cleared a decade later when subsequent investigations revealed that the crash was caused by the slush on the runway which slowed down the aircraft. It decimated the club, with a hugely promising generation lost, particularly the colossal talent that was Edwards.
While Busby recovered, assistant manager Jimmy Murphy took the club's makeshift side to that season's FA Cup final, although they lost to Bolton Wanderers. Busby nearly quit football but what is so remarkable about Munich is the way he rebuilt the club. Within five years his new side did indeed win the FA Cup, sparking United's glorious run in the 60s that included two league titles and, poignantly, the European Cup 10 years after Munich.
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