Duncan Edwards - A Manchester United Legend And the Munich Disaster of 1958 .

 i missed the tribute to the those united players who died in Munich  in 1958 this year  , which is is most unlike me  but thats the joy of mom being in hospital at the time . one of the united fans i follow on twitter mr mujac posted this you tube film about a player who died in the air crash , Duncan Edwards ,  on his feed earlier  today so i thought i would post it here

Duncan Edwards was arguably one of the best Manchester United players ever ( although comparing players of his generation and the players of today is impossible ,  the game is totally different ) he was part of the young united team built by manager Matt Busby in the 1950's . they were known as the busby babes . Born in Dudley in West Midlands UK in 1936 he sadly died age 21 as a result of  the plane crash at Munich airport Germany in 1958  .  he showed  the same strength he had as a player by surviving for 15 days after the crash ,  despite very serious injuries ,  but sadly lost his fight for life , he last words were reportedly asking assistant manager Jimmy Murphy what time kick off in the next match was and lets get stuck in . .

my dad was lucky enough to be able to see the team several times  . he was born in manchester ( although he came here in 1950) and along with my grandad always supported united  . he certainly rates Duncan Edwards very highly .

 for those of you that might not know the Munich air crash happened as the united team were flying back to Manchester after a successful progression to the next round after a 3-3 draw with red star Belgrade winning 5-4 on aggregate ( all early rounds of the European cup were played home and away )  .
in those days it was necessary to re fuel at Munich airport . twice the plane tried to take off and failed . on the third time it never made take off speed  , due to ice on the runway ,  crashed into a house and a fuel dump at the end of the it .

 the following people died in the crash  :

Players : Geoff Bent , Roger Byrne , Eddie Coleman , Mark Jones , David Pegg , Tommy Taylor , Liam (Billy)Whelan

Staff: Walter Crickmer (club secretary) ,  Tom Curry (trainer) ,  Bert Whalley (chief coach)

Journalists:  Alf Clarke  (Manchester Evening Chronicle) , Donny Davies (Manchester Guardian) ,  George Fellows (Daily Herald) ,  Tom Jackson (Manchester Evening News) , Archie  Ledbrooke(Daily Mirror) Henry Rose (Daily Express)  Frank Swift( News Of The World , also former England and manchester city goal keeper) Eric Thompson (Daily Mai)

Flight Crew: Capt Kenneth Rayment DFC  – Co-Pilot
 Tommy Cable – Steward

Others: Bela Miklos – Travel Agent
Willie Satinoff – Supporter

Those who survived:

Players:
 Matt Busby (Team Manager), Johnny Berry , Jackie Blanchflower , Bobby Charlton , Bill Foulkes , Harry Gregg , Ken Morgans , Albert Scanlon , Dennis Viollet , Ray Wood

Harry Greg showed a huge amount of courage by going back into the aircraft , after having been warned it could blow up at any time . this was due to the fact it had a full tank of fuel  ,  to rescue Vera Lukic and her child Vesna .  he also rescued a third member if the Lukic family as unbeknownst to Greg Mrs Lukic was pregnant .

Journalists
Frank Taylor , Peter Howard , Ted Ellyard

Flight Crew
James Thain – Captain , Rosemary Cheverton – Stewardess , Margaret Bellis – Stewardess
George William Rodgers – Radio Officer

Others :
Mrs Vera Lukic – **Contrary to popular belief, Mrs Lukic is NOT the mother of John Lukic, who played in goal for Arsenal and Leeds**
Mrs Lukic’s daughter and the child she was pregnant with .Mrs Bela Miklos – wife of travel agent who arranged trip . Mr B Tomasevic - passenger

 all information taken , with thanks ,  from http://munich58.co.uk/

on the 50th anniversary of the crash 6th of February 2008  i read on the net MUTV was to be broadcasting for free . Dad and i cried off work to watch the tributes . i asked dad does it seem odd watching something you lived through being shows on TV like a history lesson .  my Dads response was it could never be just history to me .