The Munich air crash happened on February 6th, 1958. Lord Polly, the airspeed ambassador of British European Airlines (now British Airways), was carrying professional players, fans and accompanying journalists of Manchester United, a British football league team, and broke down for the third time and crashed on the snowy runway of Munich airport in West Germany. Twenty-three of the 44 passengers and crew on board were killed, including eight Manchester United players and three staff members.

The UEFA Champions League was established on 1955. However, due to the competition system of English first division at that time, no English team participated in the first Champions League. The following year, Manchester United participated in the competition, and it was not until the semi-final that they lost to the champion Spanish team Real Madrid. At that time, Manchester United players were called "Busby Baby" by Love. This is because the coach of Manchester United at that time was matthew busby, and the average age of the players in the team was only 22 years old, and most of the players were excellent players trained by the club's youth training. Therefore, Manchester United is regarded as one of the favourites to win the Champions League in the 1957/58 season.

In order to adapt to this tight schedule, flying became the only feasible way for Manchester United to participate in European competitions at that time.

Manchester United arrived in Belgrade, the then Yugoslav capital, in the second leg of the semi-final and visited Red Star Football Club in Belgrade. Manchester United beat their opponents 3-3 and eliminated them 5-4 twice. Later, the club will arrange for Manchester United players to return to Britain by the airspeed "ambassador" plane of Lord G-ALZU Burleigh, with a stopover in Munich to refuel.

Due to the loss of Manchester United player John Berry's passport, the flight was delayed for an hour before taking off from Belgrade.