Date:	Friday 24 February 1956
Time:	day
Type:	English Electric Canberra T Mk 4
Owner/operator:	231 OCU RAF
Registration:	WJ871
MSN:	EEP/71349
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Other fatalities:	0
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	Washingley, 2 miles west of Stilton, Huntingdonshire -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Military
Departure airport:	RAF Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire
Destination airport:

Narrative:
EE Canberra T.4 WJ871, 231 OCU, RAF: Written off 14/02/1956 - Dived into the ground near Washingley, two miles west of Stilton, Huntingdonshire, killing both crew, after the tailplane actuator malfunctioned, pushing the Canberra nose-down into an unrecoverable dive. A large crater was left in the field where the aircraft impacted, and debris was scattered over a wide area. Both crew killed.

Crew of Canberra WJ871:
Flight Lieutenant Herbert James Brice, RAF (Navigator, Service Number 924325, aged 36) - killed on active service 24/2/56, buried at St, Mary's Parish Cemetery, Old Bletchley, Buckinghamshire
Flying Officer Jason Spokes, RAF (Pilot, Service Number 3046036 aged 27) - killed on active service 24/2/56, buried at Bassingbourn Cemetery, Royston, Hertfordshire

The crash location was near Washingley is a small hamlet in Cambridgeshire, England. Washingley lies approximately 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Peterborough, near Folksworth. Washingley is in the civil parish of Folksworth and Washingley. Washingley is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being a historic county of England, at approximate co-ordinates 52.488°N 0.331°W

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.178 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 63)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.182
4. Wings Over Somerset: Aircraft Crashes since the End of World War II By Peter Forrester
5. National Archives (PRO Kew) File BT233/326: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C424447
6. National Archives (PRO Kew) File AVIA 5/34/S2807: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C6578587
7. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WJ
8. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
9. http://simviation.com//lair/casualty%201956.htm
10. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?17202-231-OCU-Accidents-Bassingbourn&p=101009#post101009
11. http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Cambridgeshire/BassingbourncumKneesworthPostWar.html
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washingley

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
17-Jun-2008 10:44	JINX	Added
21-Jan-2012 17:30	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Departure airport, Source, Narrative, ]
09-Apr-2013 20:27	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Source, Narrative, ]
12-Nov-2018 21:28	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]
17-Jan-2020 01:21	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
17-Jan-2020 14:34	stehlik49	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Nature, Operator, ]
11-Jun-2020 23:25	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Source, Narrative, ]
12-Jun-2020 08:23	MIG29	Updated [Operator, Operator, ]