50 years ago the soccer team of Manchester United (the so called "Busby Babes") made a fuel stop in Munich on their way home from Belgrade. During the takeoff roll the airplane was slowed down by the slush on the runway, they never became airborne, overshot and crashed killing most of the players and coaches.
My dad was a student in Munich then and he lived in the wider area. He remembers that he heard tons of emergency vehicles rushing by for hours, thinking "hey, that must have been quite an accident", but never thought it could have been at the airport. Only the next day he read it in the newspaper and the soccer fan he was (and still is) he was deeply shocked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_air_disaster
50 years ago - ManU tragedy
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50 years ago - ManU tragedy
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- flyboy2548m
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
It didn't help that they were riding this monument to British engineering.
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
While I might agree with you about the Ambassador, I don't think the aircraft type had much to do with this accident.It didn't help that they were riding this monument to British engineering.
- flyboy2548m
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
It probably didn't help, David. I mean, nothing that ugly should have ever been allowed to fly and then you add a slushy runway....While I might agree with you about the Ambassador, I don't think the aircraft type had much to do with this accident.
"Lav sinks on 737 Max are too small"
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
OK. I never flew on one, but I was very familiar with them as a kid, including the Dan-Air ones. On start-up, the engines produced more smoke than I have ever seen from any other airplane to this day.It probably didn't help, David. I mean, nothing that ugly should have ever been allowed to fly and then you add a slushy runway....While I might agree with you about the Ambassador, I don't think the aircraft type had much to do with this accident.
- flyboy2548m
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
Looks like the result of a threesome involving a Britannia, a Connie and a C-119.
"Lav sinks on 737 Max are too small"
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
There's still one preserved in good condition at Duxford.
- willezurmacht
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
Was it built from cheap composites?
Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
Wasn´t this thing called Airspeed Ambassador?
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Oh the ironing ...
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
Hmm, a discussion about British Aerospace. Where's shadey when you need him?
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Re: 50 years ago - ManU tragedy
It's nothing to do with British Aerospace, which was formed many years after the Ambassador was designed and built. The Ambassador may or may not have been a poor aircraft - none of us really knows for sure as it predates all of us, though I have read that many pilots liked it and it had good flying characteristics. It has to be seen in an historical context when the UK was very inventive and creative with a large number of airliner designs, as a result of WW2 momentum and a very fragmented aircraft design industry in the post-war period. Some designs were successful, some laid the ground technically for future designs, but many were failures. Those that were failures were often under-powered, poorly engineered or didn't sell due to a small domestic market and excessive governmental interference in those days.Hmm, a discussion about British Aerospace. Where's shadey when you need him?
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