Date:	Friday 8 March 1957
Time:	day
Type:	English Electric Canberra B Mk 2
Owner/operator:	61 Sqn RAF
Registration:	WH915
MSN:	SH1658
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 3 / Occupants: 3
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Wigginton, 2 miles SSE of Tring, Hertfordshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Upwood, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
EE Canberra B.Mk.2 WH915. 61 Squadron: Written off (destroyed) 8/3/1957. The aircraft took off from RAF Upwood, and climbed to 10,000 feet over the North Sea off Wainfleet, Lincolnshire. Having achieved this, the pilot called on the R/T to state that he was setting a westerly course. However, the next sighting of Canberra WH915 was RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire, at an altitude of approximately 40 feet above high ground, and flying in very bad weather. The aircraft then struck the ground at Wigginton, 2 miles South South East of Tring, Hertfordshire, and was destroyed on impact: all three crew members were killed instantly.

Crew of Canberra WH915
Squadron-Leader Norman Leslie Hartley, RAF (pilot, Service Number 124684, aged 35) Married with two children, Norman - from County Durham - had been in the RAF since the age of 17. After training in Canada, he remained there as a flying instructor, then served in Transport Command before moving on to Bomber Command. He was CO of 61 Sqn from August 1955 to February 1956 and lived in Worthing.
His crew:
Flight-Lieutenant Roger David Riches, RAF (navigator, aged 25) from West Hampstead.
Flying-Officer Leslie Owen Sage Turner (navigator, Service Number 31102506, aged 28). Married, from Exmouth, Devon. Please note media reports at the time had their addresses switched round.

The cause of the crash could not be determined by the RAF Board of Inquiry, although a variety of possibilities were examined and then disregarded

Canberra B.2 WH915 was involved in an infamous incident at RAF Nicosia, Cyprus, during "Operation Musketeer", the military operations over Suez Egypt on 1/11/56. It is possibly the only recorded incident of a pilot being disciplined for deliberately damaging his aircraft, by retracting the nose wheel on the take off run, in order to prevent him carrying out combat operations. Per a contemporary report in Flight International magazine 25/1/1957:

"Canberra Court Martial
At Nicosia, F/O Dennis Raymond Kenyon, a regular officer of No. 61 Squadron, Upwood, attached to R.A.F. Nicosia, is to be tried by general court martial next Monday, January 28. The charge against him reads: "...on November 1, 1956, when on active service, and when as captain and pilot of Her Majesty's aircraft Canberra WH915 he was under orders to take off from Nicosia and to fly to Egypt in order to carry out a warlike operation in the air, through default, failed to use his utmost exertions to carry such orders into effect by wilfully causing the undercarriage of the said aircraft to be partially retracted before take-off when the said aircraft was stationary on the ground with undercarriage down, with intent to relieve him from carrying the said orders into effect. There are two alternative charges, one of "wilfully damaging" the aircraft, and the other of "negligently damaging" it.

At the Court-Martial, F/O Kenyon was sentenced to one years imprisonment and he was cashiered (per press reports dated 29/1/57). Later, in May 1957, sentence was reduced to six-months imprisonment, but he remained cashiered. Sqn-Ldr Hartley was the chief prosecution witness against Kenyon.

WH915 was repaired at Akrotiri by 103 MU RAF and returned to service after this incident, but was written off on 8/3/1957 as per the above

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.188 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 54)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.237-238
4. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/386: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424507
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/36/S2870: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578650
6. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WH
7. Flight Magazine 25 January 1957: https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarch...0-%200123.html
8. http://simviation.com//lair/casualty1957.htm
9. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1957.htm
10. https://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/581647-canberra-nose-wheel-collapse-akrotiri.html#post9458677
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wigginton,_Hertfordshire .

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
13-Jun-2008 10:18	JINX	Added
16-Feb-2012 02:02	Nepa	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Source]
07-Apr-2013 23:43	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Departure airport, Source, Narrative]
07-Apr-2013 23:47	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
28-Jun-2014 10:14	angels one five	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Narrative]
03-Nov-2018 09:37	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
23-Jan-2020 20:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Location, Source, Narrative]
30-Jul-2020 19:56	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
31-Jul-2020 21:18	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative]
10-Dec-2023 18:33	Paul Allonby	Updated [Narrative]
11-Dec-2023 17:25	Paul Allonby	Updated [Narrative]