Utterly tragic story of how one of England's most famous football clubs was devastated by an air crash. In 1958 Manchester United were arguably the best club side in the world. They had won two straight league championships and were on track for a third, and had just succesfully made the semi-finals of the European Cup by beating Red Star Belgrade. Busby's Babes, so named for their youth and the manager who had brought them together, Matt Busby, were expected to dominate football for the next decade. Stars like Duncan Edwards, Liam Whelan and Tommy Taylor were expected to have long and dominant club and national careers in front of them, but that all tragically ended when their Airspeed Elizabethan crashed on its third attempt to lift off from an icy Munich airport. 23 died, including 8 of the players. However in some ways the aftermath was even darker than the tragedy itself, as the Germans left no stone unturned in blaming the crash on pilot David Thain, who was sacked, and spent the rest of his life trying to prove his innocence. Even worse, Manchester United itself treated some of the surviving players abominably, ruthlessly discarding those whom it no longer considered useful. A great book that combines two of my great loves - sport and aircraft. It is absolutely compelling reading. ( )