The Munich Air Disaster - The Chronology

3rd February

• United flied to Belgrade from Manchester for the Champions' Cup (Now UCL) at bad condition. The route was arranged to stop in Munich for refueling. The condition was the minimum requirement to fly by current British Airways' flight control.

5th February

United starting lineup vs Belgrade

• United played a 3-3 draw vs Red Star Belgrade. Enough for them to go through to the next stage after won on aggregate
• United took a day rest after the game, preparing for their journey back to home by airplane.

6th February

In The Morning

• United's take off from Belgrade to Munich delayed for an hour as winger Johnny Berry losses his passport. The United crew plus five extra people flied to Munich in sunshine
• About hours later, United landed in Munich on low cloud, rain and snow

The Take Off

United came on board

• 2:00pm - United came on board the refueled plane
• 2:20pm - The plane was cleared to take off
• 2:25pm - Captain Thain aborted the take off as an uneven tone in the engines alarms goes on
• 2:35pm - Captain Thain and co-pilot Kenneth Rayment tried to go for another try to take off. But was aborted for the same reason
• 2:45pm - The plane was sent back on parked, all the passengers going back to the lounge. United;s star, Duncan Edwards, sent a telegraph - "All flights cancelled. Flying home tomorrow. Duncan"
• 3:04pm - The party sent them back to the plane. Trying to go for another
• Minutes later - The plane was set up, ready to go. The weather was bad - low clouds, heavy rain, snowy.
• Seconds later - Captain Thain pulls the throttle for the third time
• Seconds later - co-pilot Kenneth Rayment said "V1", means they can't cancel the take off and have to take off
• Seconds later - just after Kenneth Rayment said "V2" - means the plane has to be pulled up. The plane's front wheel hit thick snow - decreases their speed. The speed that was around 117knots, decreased into around 105knots - not enough to lift up the plane.
• Seconds later - The plane hit a fence, falling to ground. The wings were torn off, also part of the tail wing. A tree hit the cockpit, and the plane was falling into trucks full of fuels - then exploded
• Bill Foulkes on what happened to him in plane (BBC)
• Pilot Thain survived the crash - he shouts "Everybody comes out from the burning plane!"
• United keeper, Harry Greg, went inside the plane ignoring Thain's shouts. He pulled Matt Busby out from the burned plane. Matt Busby was badly injured - his legs upside down, right knee was behind
• 15mins later - emergency team has came. When they came, around 21 people found dead - 7 of them were United players
• Kenny Morgans on his rescue and his way to hospital (BBC)
• The survivors are taken to Rechts der Isar Hospital in Munich. Amongst them are Albert Scanlon, who were luckily injury free, Bobby Charlton, with his minor head injury, and John Berry and Jackie Blanchflower, who picked up a bad injury, means that they were retiring as the injury can't be cured.
• Sir Matt had fractured ribs, punctured lung, and broken leg. The hospital administrator said that he won't be survived.
•  United's star, Duncan Edwards, was unconscious with badly head injury.

Sir Matt on hospital

19th February

• United played a 3-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday in the league. Without Sir Matt and other injured players

21st February

• United star, Duncan Edwards, blew his final breath. His body was sent back to England.
• A week later, co-pilot Kenneth Rayment also blew his final breath
• Sir Matt's condition was improving - out of everyone's mind. He sent to Switzerland to get better handling

18th April

• Sir Matt totally healed. He came back as United manager - 71 days after the crash. He made his way back to Manchester from Switzerland by rail and sea

3rd May

• United were able to go through the FA Cup final despite loss some of their players. In the final, United defeated by Bolton with a 2-0 score. 

1968

Bobby Charlton lifter UCL trophy

• a decade later, United won their first Champions Cup title. Bobby Charlton, who survived on the crash, lifted up the trophy after beating Benfica 4-2 after extra time.

1958-1968

Captain James Thain
on press conference

• Captain James Thain accused as the mastermind of the accident by the German side. The political situation wasn't good as both of the nations were just finished the world war II a decade earlier, the English side decided to accused him as well depends on German's decision
• During these years, Thain punished that he can't fly planes anymore. But that was a little problem - he suffered defamation by English and German side
• In a decade, Thain and his wife were searching for more info and prove that he wasn't the mastermind of the accident. 
• With sober of references, based on photos and news videos, he decided to go with his theory that the thick snow decreased the plane's speed and made the plane unavailable to pulls up.
• In 1968, the English side accepted his theory. Despite the German side ignored his theory, Thain finally called for free from defamation - ten years after the accident
• In the same year, United won their first Champions Cup trophy - the one who maybe, they'll got it in 1958 if the crash didn't exist
• Seven years after being free from defamation, James Thain died in peace. Harry Greg says "There were 23 people dead in the crash, Thain was the 24th"