Page "Munich air disaster" Paragraph 13

Captain James Thain, the pilot, had flown the " Elizabethan " class Airspeed Ambassador ( registration G-ALZU ) out to Belgrade, but handed the controls to his co-pilot, Captain Kenneth Rayment, for the return journey.

At 14: 19 GMT, the control tower at Munich airport was told that the plane was ready to take off, and they were given clearance to attempt take-off due to expire at 14: 31.

Captain Rayment abandoned the take off after Captain Thain had noticed the port boost pressure gauge fluctuating as the plane reached full power and the engine sounded odd while accelerating.

A second attempt was made three minutes later, but, 40 seconds into the procedure, this too was called off before the plane got off the ground.

The reason given for the failed attempts was that the engines had been running on an over-rich mixture, causing the engines to over-accelerate, a common problem for the Elizabethan-class plane.

After the second failure, all the passengers were told to disembark from the plane and they retreated to the airport lounge.

By then, it had started to snow heavily, and it looked unlikely that the plane would be making the return journey that day.

Manchester United's Duncan Edwards took the opportunity to send a telegram ahead to his landlady in Manchester.

It read: " All flights cancelled, flying tomorrow.

Duncan.