'United's goalkeeper at the time, Harry Gregg, is modest of his own ability as a player ("I was just a big stupid goalkeeper"), and equally so of the heroics he performed immediately after the crash...
"We were on the plane waiting to take off for the third time and I was a little bit worried. I looked across at Roger Byrne and his face was contorted. Human nature being as it is, I thought 'he's more frightened than I am'. I sort of laughed, inwardly to myself. Somebody else giggled.
"Little Johnny Berry (who survived) said: 'I don't know what you're laughing at, we're all going to get killed here. Liam Whelan said, 'Well, if it happens, I'm ready...'
"The plane went down the runway. There was no stopping this time. I watched the wheels come off the ground, 'we're up', I thought. But within a split second it was daylight, darkness...all sorts. All of a sudden there was a crack and you could see daylight. There was no crying or screaming, just the terrible sound of an aircraft breaking up...
"The real hero on the day was Captain Jim Thain. I was just a footballer, a big stupid goalkeeper. He was there in the wreckage. This guy knew what was going on. I was standing there having just come out of a hole in the aircraft. He said 'run, you stupid b*stard, it's going to explode. He was trying to get his colleague, Ken Rayment, out from the cockpit.
"...Five people in the snow in the distance were shouting 'Run! Run! Run!' I heard a child crying. It's as simple as that, no big John Wayne stuff. I shouted, 'Come back here, there's people alive...'"
'Sir Bobby Charlton, a survivor of the Munich air disaster, believes the tragedy of 6th February 1958 remains entwined in the fabric of Manchester United, making it the club it is today...
"It's part of this club's history. There was a great sympathy for United after Munich and it built up a lot of affection for the club.
"I always feel every player who comes here has the history of Munich in them; a feeling of responsibility.
"At the time of the [Munich] accident we'd reached the stage where we could handle it, we knew the competition, and had reached the semi-final. I think we would have gone on and won.
"We felt it right that we had to win the European Cup one day - and to win it a decade after Munich, with such an exciting team was obviously very emotional.
"On the night Manchester United won the European Cup in 1968, I thought about the players we'd lost at Munich; they'd put a lot into United winning the European Cup and I felt they deserved to be a part of it."
Players who perished:
Geoff Bent
Roger Byrne
Eddie Colman
Duncan Edwards
Mark Jones
David Pegg
Tommy Taylor
Liam Whelan
Club Officials:
Walter Crickmer Club Secretary
Bert Whalley Chief Coach.
Tom Curry Trainer
Journalists:
Alf Clarke
Don Davies
George Follows
Tom Jackson
Archie Ledbrooke
Henry Rose
Eric Thompson
Frank Swift Journalist and ex-Manchester City keeper
Crew and Passengers:
Capt Kenneth Rayment Co-Pilot
Bela Miklos Travel Agent
Willie Satinoff Supporter
Tom Cable Steward
More info can be found at
www.munich58.co.uk