Will City fans really shame themselves and boo their hero Swift?

As the BEA twin-engine Elizabethan charter flight 609 ZU from Belgrade made a third attempt to take off after refuelling, the giant former Manchester City and England goalkeeper fought his demons.

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Swift and Manchester United's players, returning from a 3-3 quarter-final draw with Red Star in the European Cup, watched anxiously while ice and snow was brushed from the plane's wings.

David Pegg moved to the back. Defender Bill Foulkes recalled later: 'I seem to remember Frank Swift standing up near the back and saying "that's right lads, this is the place to be".'

The third run began at 15.03, February 6, 1958. Instead of taking off, the aircraft smashed a fence, hit a house which caught fire and the plane broke up.

While United fans will mourn the Busby Babes at Old Trafford tomorrow, City supporters will also have cause to share their grief because they, too, lost one of their own on that soulless German runway.

Swift was writing about the game he loved as a Sunday newspaper reporter when he became one of the disaster's 23 victims.

If a minority of away fans even consider making a mockery of tomorrow's silent tribute, they might first remember a man whose stature as a City hero is undisputed.

Swift's 19 England caps would have been multiplied several times over but for the Second World War and he still played almost 400 League and FA Cup games for City.

Yet statistics would not do justice to the big-handed, big-hearted keeper who fainted at winning the 1934 FA Cup Final and would perform impromptu cabaret to the delight of his team-mates.

He would have joined the elite who played for both Manchester clubs had Sir Matt Busby had his way. The Old Trafford manager failed to persuade his former City team-mate to sign rather than retire.

Busby called him 'the most cheerful character I have come across in the game,' adding: 'He was a showman, he believed in entertaining the crowd but he was a magnificent goalkeeper.'

Sir Tom Finney, the former England and Preston winger, scored twice in Turin as an Italian side still regarded in 1948 as world champions, were beaten 4-0 by an England team skippered for the first time by their keeper. Sir Tom said: 'Swifty was brilliant. We had heroes all over the pitch but he made some great saves. Only those who were there will ever properly appreciate the true merit of that England performance.'

Finney was often the victim of his pal Swift's japes. He said: 'He'd hide your shoes when you put them out for cleaning at the hotel. I lost count of the number of times shoes went walkabout in the night.'

Blackpool-born Swift and Bloomfield Road star Stan Mortensenwould entertain their team-mates with a double act straight off the North Pier.

'The two of them had us in fits of laughter,' recalled Sir Tom in his autobiography.

'They did a mother and baby routine in which Frank would wrap Morty in a sheet and pop a dummy in his mouth in a singsong. Frank had also perfected the art of mimicry and was particularly good at a spoof striptease act. He was a wonderful character with a huge heart who believed in getting fun out of life.'

Frank Victor Swift was signed by Manchester City from non-league Fleetwood in 1932 and was paid the going rate of 10 shillings a week.

He made his League debut at Derby on Christmas Day 1933, a day before he turned 20, in a side that included Busby and Alec Herd whose son David later played for United. City lost 4-1 but Swift was in.

He had set off for Wembley at 2am on his motorbike the previous April to watch from the stands as City lost the FA Cup Final 3-0 to Everton. A year later he was between the posts when City beat Portsmouth 2-1. Swift fainted at the final whistle, recovering to collect his medal with King George V enquiring about his health.

Team-mate Busby said: 'He was a mere boy and the occasion proved too much. He tried to pull himself together afterwards and stammered "Have we won?".'

Peter Doherty scored 30 goals as City won the title three seasons later but Swift, who had introduced the long throw out rather than aimless punting, was also a star performer. When he retired in 1949 to be replaced by Bert Trautmann, Busby was not the only admirer to believe Swift could play on. City kept his registration until 1955.

Trautmann recalled: 'Frank came into the dressing-room before kick-off for my first game at Bolton, and said "Son" — he called everybody son — "Son, don't be nervous. There's 35,000 out there. Ignore them". He only once gave me advice. Before the 1956 Cup Final, he told me about how the thick Wembley grass would make the ball slippery and told me to put resin on my hands. He was right and it worked.'

Swift, a correspondent for the News of the World, was one of eight journalists who died in Munich and Busby later wrote: 'I was with Big Swifty from his beginnings in the League and I was with him when he died. He had so much fun still in him to share.'