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munich58.co.ukIn memory of those who died in the munich air crash in February 1958 |
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munich58.co.ukIn memory of those who died in the munich air crash in February 1958 |
February 1998
Former United Centre-half, Bill Foulkes, a survivor of the crash, was interviewed by Carling-Net just before the 40th anniversary of the air crash. The interview is reprinted here:
Bill Foulkes stirs a steaming mug of coffee and the boiling anger and painful memories of a fateful day long ago come bubbling to the surface.
"The crash just shouldn't have happened. That's the thought that has haunted me all these years,'' says Foulkes, the former Manchester United defender who saw eight of his talented team-mates perish in the Munich air disaster.
"It was obvious that we would struggle to take off and they took the chance. They should never have done that. I don't feel guilty about being a survivor. I was just damned lucky. But I do harbour this feeling that it wasn't necessary, that angers me. It cost the club, it cost the country so much."
"We had a team then, like the United team now - youthful yet experienced, successful, on the verge of something really special.''
Foulkes is sitting in the coffee shop of Manchester United's museum at Old Trafford, just yards away from photos and souvenirs commemorating the lives of the Busby Babes.
On Friday it will be 40 years since Foulkes staggered in his stockinged feet from the mangled wreckage of that BEA Elizabethan airliner G-ALZU, which had crashed in a blizzard on its third attempt to take off from Munich airport.
In all those years Foulkes has never cried. Never discussed the crash with his three grown-up children. Never talked about it with his former teammates. Never passed a word with his great pal Bobby Charlton on the tragedy which claimed 23 lives.
But this weekend at a Manchester Cathedral service and at Manchester United's Premiership match against Bolton, poignantly kicking off at the time of the crash, 3.15pm, Foulkes will be fighting back the tears.
It is almost as if he is emerging from 40 years of shock and numbness and can at last show his true emotions over a tragedy which claimed the young lives of Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards, Eddie Colman, Mark Jones, Billy Whelan, Geoff Bent and David Pegg.
At 66, Foulkes has a ramrod straight back, a courteous, kindly demeanour, a sharp mind and a lasting memory.
And the story of that terrible afternoon on February 6, 1958, spills from his lips as fluently and vividly as if it were yesterday.
United had just played brilliantly to gain a 3-3 draw with Red Star Belgrade in Budapest to march into the European Cup semi-finals.
There followed a lavish reception, then a trip to the British Embassy where each player received a present of a bottle of spirit.
"I had a bottle of gin and the first thing I did when I got on the aircraft was put it on the overhead rack with my overcoat,'' remembers Foulkes.
"The daft thing is that the only injury I got in the crash was from the bottle which hit me on the back of the head.''
The plane had flown to Munich to refuel for the final leg to Manchester and it was as it taxied along the runway in driving snow that the drama began. Twice it tried to take off, only to pull up with an alarming shudder. The pilot returned to the terminal and the players were resigned to spending the night in a Munich hotel until it was announced they would make one more attempt.
"When they said that you didn't have to be a genius to know that this was going to be a bit dicey,'' said Foulkes, who had been running a card school in the middle of the aircraft with Albert Scanlon, David Pegg, Kenny Morgans, Roger Byrne and Billy Whelan.
"The snow was still belting down and I thought how are we going to get off the ground. When we got on the aircraft for the third time David Pegg said I'm not staying here. I'm going to the back, it's safer there. Kenny Morgans did the same, Albert stayed where he was and I remember Billy Whelan saying 'I'm prepared, I've made my act of contrition.' And by this time everybody was feeling really scared."
"The plane was bouncing along and obviously not going fast enough and then suddenly there were three tremendous sickening thuds and everything was spinning around. A second later I was sitting in my seat with my feet in the snow."
The aircraft had split in half directly underneath Foulkes' seat and he struggled out of his safety belt and ran 50 yards in his stockinged feet before turning to see the mangled wreckage of the stricken Elizabethan, its tail pointing crazily to the sky and its Union Jack motif engulfed in flames.
"Then I saw Matt Busby lying on one arm and Bobby Charlton, Dennis Viollet and Jackie Blanchflower all lying unconscious in their seats,'' says Foulkes.
"Harry Gregg came around the back of the aircraft with his face covered in blood and holding a baby in his arms."
"I ran over to Matt and we put an overcoat underneath him and he just turned over, groaned and passed out. By this time Bobby and Dennis were just standing in shock and Harry put a tourniquet on Jackie's arm.''
They were all taken to hospital, though Foulkes and Gregg stayed in a hotel for the night, and it was not until the next morning that they learned the full extent of the horror. First Foulkes went to see United's shining star Duncan Edwards.
"He half said something but was rambling, nothing coherent. I asked the nurse and she said he was 50-50 and I was relieved. He was a big strong fellow and if anybody could pull through it would be him.'' Edwards died 10 days later after a heroic fight for life.
Next Foulkes saw Johnny Berry - the nurse shook her head. ``That's when I got worried,'' says Foulkes, though Berry survived but never played again.
In the next ward there was Jackie Blanchflower, Dennis Viollet, Albert Scanlon, Bobby Charlton and Ray Wood.
"I was just beginning to think it didn't look too bad when I asked where the rest where. The nurse simply shook her head and said:" `That's it, everybody else has died.
"It was a terrible feeling,'' says Foulkes. "It took me a long, long time to recover from that moment. Every day was an ordeal for me.''
Amazingly United played an FA Cup tie against Sheffield Wednesday just six days after the crash and went on to reach the final.
But Foulkes continued to struggle. "I lost so much weight, I couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, I was losing fitness and form and I'd really had enough."
"I felt that I could have packed in the game at any time,'' he says. "It took me until 1963 when Sir Matt switched me from full-back to centre-half before I started to enjoy the game again."
"Funnily enough, the next years were the best of my career and winning the European Cup helped me get over the crash.''
"I think of the crash every day. It bothers me flying. Days before I go on a flight I can't sleep with the whole thing going through my mind again.''
Not that it stops Foulkes travelling. He has worked in Norway, America and Japan, where he was manager of Hiroshima. He still works as a consultant for the club.
"I'm still a very big fan of United. Alex Ferguson has done a fantastic job,'' says Foulkes. "It's taken 10 years but as with anything built with care it has a solid foundation."
``I think they'll win the league again this season, have a good chance of the European Cup and are capable of winning the FA Cup for an amazing treble."
"But I don't think the Busby years can ever be eclipsed. They built the legend. We had three European Players of the Year in George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton in the same side. I can't see that happening again."
"Before the crash this club belonged to Manchester, but afterwards it captured the imagination of the world. Wherever you travelled people knew the names of the players. That's when all this started.''
He turns to look at the magnificent new stand which dominates the Manchester skyline. His glance settles on the statue of Sir Matt Busby and the names of the Munich victims.
His brow furrows, he hunches his shoulders against the cold wind and wanders away muttering: ``It just shouldn't have happened."