On this day in 1958, a plane carrying players and staff of Manchester United crashed at the Munich-Reim airport in Germany resulting in the deaths of 23 people.
United were returning to Manchester from Belgrade, Yugoslavia after eliminating Red Star Belgrade in the quarter-finals of the European Cup. They had to halt in Munich to refuel as a nonstop flight from Belgrade to Manchester was beyond the plane’s range. The captains abandoned take-off not once but twice due to engine problems. Rejecting the idea of an overnight stay in Munich, Captain James Thain attempted to take-off for a third time.