Date:	Wednesday 29 February 1956
Time:	day
Type:	Boulton Paul Balliol T Mk 2
Owner/operator:	238 OCU RAF
Registration:	WN517
MSN:
Fatalities:	Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1
Aircraft damage:	Destroyed
Location:	6 miles SE of Shaugh Prior, near Cadover Bridge, Devon -   United Kingdom
Phase:	En route
Nature:	Training
Departure airport:	RAF Colerne, Wiltshire (EGUO)
Destination airport:	Plymouth Roborough Airport, Devon (EGHD)
Confidence Rating:	Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources

Narrative:
Boulton Paul Balliol T.2 WN516: Delivered 19/1/54. RAF Service career was with 238 OCU, RAF Colerne, Wiltshire, only.

Written off 29/2/1956: Balliol WN516 was acting as the target aircraft during an interception exercise, when the engine began to run roughly and then failed. After a MAYDAY call, the Balliol was authorised to divert to make an emergency landing at Roborough Airport, Plymouth, Devon.

The aircraft entered cloud at around 7,000 feet, and emerged from the cloud at approximately four miles North East of Roborough, Plymouth. However, the aircraft then began to lose altitude rapidly and then banked to port. If failed to recover from this dive, and dived into the ground six mile South East of Shaugh Prior, near Cadover Bridge, Devon. The pilot did not bail out, and the aircraft burst into flames on impact with the ground. The pilot was killed

Crew of Balliol WN517:
Sergeant Donald George Toogood, RAF (pilot,Service Number 185256, aged 31) - killed on active service 29/2/56, buried at Colerne Churchyard, Colerne, Wiltshire.

The reported crash location of Shaugh Prior is a village and civil parish on the south-western side of Dartmoor in the county of Devon, England. It is situated about 8 miles north-east of the historic centre of the city of Plymouth, at approximate co ordinates 50.44944°N 4.05435°W.

1. Halley, James (1999) Broken Wings – Post-War Royal Air Force Accidents Tunbridge Wells: Air-Britain (Historians) Ltd. p.177 ISBN 0-85130-290-4.
2. Royal Air Force Aircraft WA100-WZ999 (James J Halley, Air Britain, 1983 p 80)
3. Category Five; A Catalogue of RAF Aircraft Losses 1954 to 2009 by Colin Cummings p.183
4. The Boulton Paul Balliol: The Last Merlin-Powered Aircraft By Alec Brew
5. http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?8732-W-C-F-M-N-Watts-OBE-Colerne-5.5.56
6. http://www.ukserials.com/losses-1956.htm
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaugh_Prior
8. http://www.ukserials.com/results.php?serial=WN

Date/time	Contributor	Updates
14-Mar-2013 02:58	Dr. John Smith	Added
14-Mar-2013 03:00	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
04-Dec-2018 09:19	Nepa	Updated [Operator, Operator]
12-Jun-2020 21:48	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Time, Operator, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative]
12-Jun-2020 21:53	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Location, Source, Narrative]
12-Jun-2020 21:58	Dr. John Smith	Updated [Narrative]
13-Jun-2020 08:44	AlLach	Updated [Aircraft type, Operator, Location, Destination airport, Operator]