Harry Gregg on the Munich Air Disaster

In February 1958, Harry Gregg had it all – a loving wife, a little girl and a place as goalkeeper in Matt Busby’s famous Manchester United team. But when the aeroplane the team travelled on suffered a catastrophic crash, his life was to be changed forever. This is his story.

 

“We landed at Munich for a refuelling stop,” Gregg remembers.  "We made footprints in the snow as we got back on the plane and there was nothing untoward as we set off down the runway. Then the aircraft stopped and someone came on to say we would be going back to make another attempt. I just supposed it was a technical hitch.

 

"We set off again, going a little bit further this time. It was like a speedboat at sea with a bow wave as the snow got deeper. We pulled up again. This time they said we would be going back into the terminal. In less than five minutes we were called back on and we boarded again. I watched the steward belting himself in and I thought it was perhaps more serious than I had realised. So I made a point of getting well down in my seat, undid my collar and tie, and put my feet on the chair in front.

 

"I thought we had lifted, until suddenly there was a horrendous noise. It felt as if everything was upside down. One minute there was daylight. The next there was only darkness, with an awful sound of tearing, ripping, smoke and flames.

 

"I was thrown forward and then backwards again, banging my head hard. I just didn't know what was going on. Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. There was nothing but darkness. I lay there for a while and felt the blood running down my face. I was afraid to reach up for fear of what I would find.

 

There was some burning and sparks from wires. Above me to the right was a hole and daylight. I started to crawl towards it and in the darkness went over one or two people. I looked out of the hole and directly below me lay Bert Whalley, the team coach, wearing an air force blue suit. His eyes were wide open and he hadn't a mark on him.

 

"I made the hole bigger and dropped down beside Bert. In the distance I could see five people running through the snow. Then Captain Thain appeared. He shouted, “Run, you stupid fool - it's going to explode!” and ran back the way he had come. I couldn’t move. I just stood there.

 

"Just then I heard a child crying. I shouted, “There are people still alive in here!” I crawled back inside the plane, terrified of what I might find. The child was under a pile of rubbish. I grabbed him and crawled out, passing him to the radio operator, and went back in and found the mother. She was in a shocking state and I had to literally kick her through the hole to send her on her way. I found Ray Wood and was sure he was dead, I couldn't get him out. I saw Albert Scanlon and he looked even worse. I tried to drag him out but he was trapped by the feet and I had to put him down. I got out and went round the back of the aircraft where I found Bobby Charlton and Dennis Viollet hanging half in and half out of the stump of the plane. I dragged them clear by the waistbands of their trousers and left them about 15 yards away.

 

"I got round the other side, and it was then that I realised how bad it was. The rest of the plane had collided with a fuel store and it was on fire. Between that and the part of the plane I had come out of was the Boss. He was sitting up on his elbows with his hands across his chest, groaning. He had a bad cut behind his ear and one of his feet was bent back the wrong way but he didn't look too bad compared with what I had seen. I thought I could leave him. I put something behind him to support his back and said "You're OK, Boss."

 

"I went another 20 yards and found Jackie Blanchflower. The snow was melting around him because of the heat of the burning aircraft. He was crying out that he had broken his back and was paralysed. I looked and saw the body of Roger Byrne lying across him; Jackie hadn’t realised that Roger's body was holding him down. I kept talking to ‘Blanchy’. His right arm was almost severed, so I made a tourniquet of my tie. I pulled so hard the tie ripped. I looked up and one of the stewardesses was standing there, so I asked her to help but the poor girl was in shock.

 

"People came from across the fields. Ordinary people, not rescue people; I didn't see any of those at all. Eventually a coal van arrived, into which we loaded Jackie Blanchflower and Johnny Berry, who I didn't even recognise as a player until I saw the badge on his blazer. Billy Foulkes, Dennis Viollet and I climbed in too and we were all driven to the hospital. I broke down and cried when I saw Bobby Charlton, Peter Howard,Ted Ellyard and a big Yugoslav waiting at the hospital. I was just relieved that there were more of us alive.

 

"I had to go back to the hospital the next day. I could hardly get out of bed because of my back. They gave me injections to the point where I said that's enough because the injections were worse than the bad back. Jimmy Murphy asked Bill and I to stay for a few days so that those lying in hospital wouldn't realise the Full extent of the accident.

 

"Eventually Professor Maurer took Jimmy, Bill and myself round the theatres and would stop at the foot of each bed to tell us their chances of survival. The Boss: Fifty-fifty because he was a strong man. Jackie Blanchflower: OK. Duncan: fifty-fifty. But when he got to little Johnny Berry he whispered, no, no, I am not God. Johnny survived, in the end. Duncan didn’t, though and I found that hard. It hit me terribly.

 

"A lot of people wondered where Matt Busby got the strength from to return to football and start all over again. I went to see him shortly after he got back to England. He had aged terribly and he told me that the hardest part for him was Johnny Berry coming to his room to say: "Tommy Taylor's some friend of mine. He hasn't even been to see me." Johnny didn't know the full extent of the crash and Matt said he just didn't know what to say to him. He told me: "Son, they couldn't give me an anaesthetic to set my broken foot because of my chest injuries, so they set it a bone at a time, one every day. It was cruel, but it didn't hurt me like Johnny Berry coming into my room every day to say Tommy Taylor was a poor friend.""

 

As told to Manchester.com - read the full account here.