In one way, Johnny Berry (1926-94) was luckier than many of Manchester United’s Busby Babes: he survived the Munich air disaster on February 6, 1958, that killed many of his teammates.
However, his injuries ended the first-team regular’s career at the age of 31. By that time, the right winger had played a part in all three of United’s league titles of the 1950s, a feat equalled only by team captain Roger Byrne, who died at Munich.
When Berry came round in hospital, he had amnesia and could not remember the crash. Having suffered a fractured skull, broken jaw, broken elbow, broken pelvis and broken leg, the doctors kept news of the fatalities from him until he had sufficiently recovered his strength. It was another month before he learnt about the fate of his teammates, including the death of his close friend Tommy Taylor.