Editing Bobby Charlton (section)

===1958 Munich air disaster===
{{Main|Munich air disaster}}

On 6 February 1958, Charlton was returning to England with the Manchester United Team after a [[1957–58 European Cup|European Cup]] match in [[Belgrade]], [[Yugoslavia]] (now [[Serbia]]), having eliminated [[Red Star Belgrade]] to advance to the semi-finals of the competition. The aeroplane which took the United players and staff home from [[Zemun|Zemun Airport]] needed to stop in [[Munich-Riem Airport|Munich]] to refuel.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hall |first=David |title=Manchester's Finest: How the Munich air disaster broke the heart of a great city |date=12 February 2009 |publisher=Transworld |isbn=978-1-4070-3343-3 |page=2 |language=en}}</ref> This was carried out in worsening weather, and by the time the refuelling was complete and the call was made for the passengers to re-board the aircraft, the wintry showers had taken hold and snow had settled heavily on the runway and around the airport. There were two aborted take-offs which led to concern on board, and the passengers were advised by a stewardess to disembark again while a minor technical error was fixed.

The team were back in the airport terminal for barely ten minutes when the call came to reconvene on the plane, and a number of passengers began to feel nervous. Charlton and teammate [[Dennis Viollet]] swapped places with [[Tommy Taylor]] and [[David Pegg]], who had decided they would be safer at the back of the plane.

The plane clipped the fence at the end of the runway on its next take-off attempt and a wing tore through a nearby house, setting it alight. The wing and part of the tail came off and hit a tree and a wooden hut, the plane spinning along the snow until coming to a halt. It had been cut in half.

Charlton, strapped into his seat, had fallen out of the cabin; when United goalkeeper [[Harry Gregg]] (who had somehow got through a hole in the plane unscathed and begun a one-man rescue mission) found him, he thought he was dead. Nevertheless, he grabbed both Charlton and Viollet by their trouser waistbands and dragged them away from the plane, in constant fear that it would explode. Gregg returned to the plane to try to help the appallingly injured Busby and Blanchflower, and when he turned around again, he was relieved to see that Charlton and Viollet, both of whom he had presumed to be dead, had got out of their detached seats and were looking into the wreckage.

Charlton suffered cuts to his head and severe [[Shock (circulatory)|shock]], and was in hospital for a week. Seven of his teammates had perished at the scene, including Taylor and Pegg, with whom he and Viollet had swapped seats prior to the fatal take-off attempt. Club captain [[Roger Byrne]] was also killed, along with [[Mark Jones (footballer, born 1933)|Mark Jones]], [[Liam Whelan|Billy Whelan]], [[Eddie Colman]] and [[Geoff Bent]]. [[Duncan Edwards]] died a fortnight later from the injuries he had sustained. In total, the crash claimed 23 lives. Initially, ice on the wings was blamed, but a later inquiry declared that [[slush]] on the runway had made a safe take-off almost impossible.

Of the 44 passengers and crew (including the 17-strong Manchester United squad), 23 people (eight of them Manchester United players) died as a result of their injuries in the crash. Charlton survived with minor injuries. Of the eight other players who survived, two of them were injured so badly that they never played again.

Charlton was the first injured survivor to leave hospital. Harry Gregg and [[Bill Foulkes]] were not hospitalised, for they escaped uninjured. He arrived back in England on 14 February 1958, eight days after the crash. As he convalesced with family in Ashington, he spent some time kicking a ball around with local youths, and a famous photograph of him was taken. He was still only 20 years old, yet now there was an expectation that he would help with the rebuilding of the club as Busby's aides tried to piece together what remained of the season.

Between Harry Gregg's death in 2020 and his own in 2023, Charlton was the last living survivor of the crash.